The Fear of Falling
by koiketsudayou
Summary: When I woke up on a mountain that looked like Mount Rushmore and got chased by so-called "ninjas" I knew that my life would never be the same. Ninja's don't exist. Or that's what my brain keeps telling me. Naruto World Story  Non Mary-Sue
1. I Fell Once

**A/N: This is going to be a Naruto world story. It's nothing Mary-Sueish. No cool ninja powers. Just a girl with a problem that she needs to solve. Getting back home. Hopefully it's nothing cliché. I'm trying to make this as original as possible. Enjoy!**

Sometimes you feel like the worlds out to get you, but then other times you feel like it was your fault. In a case like mine the former would be correct rather than the latter. I didn't do anything to deserve this, in fact I had no idea what in the hell was going on. What I remembered was waking up on a mountain that looked more like a knockoff Mount Rushmore than anything else. The air around me wasn't extremely hot, nor was it deathly cold. It was "just right" like little Ms. Goldilocks would say. The only problem about this very scenic view was that I was on top of a mountain with no way of getting down. There was no one around me, but I knew there were people here because there was a very large town right below this mountain. You could see little dots moving, which I knew was people, but the cliché phrase of "they looked like ants" would have been something I would have used in a moment like this.

After staring at the town for longer than need be, panic started to settle in.

Where in the hell was I?

Why wasn't I at my job interview in Kyoto?

Why wasn't I wearing the clothing to my interview anymore?

What in the hell was going on?

Questions upon questions started rushing through my head making me realize that I was hopelessly lost. Maybe if I climbed down the mountain and asked people questions, they would be able to answer some of them for me. Taking in a deep breath I looked around me to see if there was a ladder of some sorts to climb my way down towards normal ground. Of course it seems as if god hates me as the only kind of transportation down was using my two long hands that god gave me.

Now if you must know rock climbing is extremely hard, especially if you don't have a harness or a belayer down at the bottom to help you. I've done rock climbing before, but if you don't have the upper body strength, you're pretty much a goner if you even attempt to do it without a rope. So now you can understand the sheer fear that was running through my veins. Inching closer towards the edge, but not too close to fall off, I slowly peered over the side. That was a mistake on my part as my stomach suddenly dropped and I swayed dangerously to the side.

My fear of course was heights. Now you're probably wondering why I did rock climbing? Well, it was a way to get over my fears in a **safe** and efficient way. It made sense because people would be supporting me if I fell. But right now, no one would be supporting me if I fell. It would be just me, the air, and the ground.

Nice thought right.

Calmly edging away from…well the edge, I turned to my right to see an indentation in the side of the rock. Upon closer inspection you could see that there were more indentations, but instead of going off to the right, then headed in the direction of the town, basically down the mountain. I could see that there was a platform below, but the problem was that it seemed to be a good twenty feet below me.

I thanked god that there was at least some sort of platform, but trusting myself to climb down twenty feet of rock with no harness sent a jolt of panic through me.

How exactly was I going to do this?

I have no idea. But that daredevil side of mine took over, and before I knew it, my body was swung over the side and I was slowly climbing my way down.

_Don't look down. Don't look down. If you look down you fall. If you look down you fall. _I continued to repeat this in my head like a mantra, praying that this saying would keep my poor irrelevant life alive. It felt like hours passed by as I still continued my trek downwards to the platform. My hands were getting sweaty and my arms started shaking as if a tremor was running through them. My breath was coming out sharply and my hair that was in a low bun was sticking to the back of my neck. It was only a matter of minutes before my arms would give out as I knew I couldn't keep this up any longer.

It wasn't long before I reached the platform and I breathed a sigh of relief as my feet finally touched solid…platform. Turning around I saw that I wasn't that far away from the town now. Grabbing unto the rope to support myself and shimmied my way down, and down and down, until I could finally see the slanted edge of a rooftop. The building wasn't too far away. All I had to do was jump into the trees and then leap over another before the building would be right in front of me.

Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I swung the rope back and forth as if I was tarzan. All I would need to do is wait until the tree came closer before I could jump off and land safely (hopefully) in the tree.

Swing one.

Swing two.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

At the last swing I pushed myself off of the rope and watched as the tree came closer towards my body. It was faster than I expected, but I managed to grab a low branch and swing myself unto another branch in the tree in front.

I felt like a monkey as I climbed up one branch and hopped unto another until I was hanging off of a tan shingle. Pulling myself up I used the last of my strength to crawl all the way to the top before collapsing in a heap.

Thank god that was done with. I felt like I was sent through a meat grind and pounded into a burger after that little expedition I just had. The back of my neck felt sticky beyond belief as the sweat mingled with my hair. Sighing, I picked myself and undid my bun in order to put it up into a high, bun but as my hair fell off my shoulder I couldn't help but scream as white hair suddenly was pooling around my waist.

White hair!

WHITE HAIR!

I started having a mental breakdown as I clearly remembered my hair being black. My hair was black last time I checked and my eyes were a blue. Thinking about my eyes, I began to wonder what my eye color was now that I realized my hair wasn't the color that it was supposed to be.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." I continued to repeat this as I walked over to the edge of the roof searching frantically for a mirror. (Like there would be a mirror there)

I needed a mirror, and I needed it now!

A door was on the other side of the roof and I made a mad dash for it, not comprehending how quickly the door came in front of me. It shouldn't have been normal how quickly I made it to the door, but that was the least of my worries as the only thing on my brain was why the hell I had white hair. The door swung open and I rushed down the stairs hoping that there would be a mirror somewhere, but of course I was met with a long hallway. There was only one direction I could go in and that was straight. There was a door to my right and I swung it open praying that it was a bathroom, but instead it was an office with four people standing inside. They turned and stared at me, but I didn't wait to apologize as I continued running down the hall.

_Mirror, mirror, mirror, mirror, mirror. _

There goes that mantra again. Not paying attention I crashed into a tall man with spiky hair, sending us both to the floor. He stared at me wide eyed, but the only thing I was paying attention to was the fact that my hair was pooling around his head, creating a curtain. Upon seeing my white hair again I let out a scream and scrambled away from him, not stopping to help him up, and continued on my way.

I needed a mirror and I needed it now.

I heard yelling behind me, but I didn't pay any attention to it as I pounded down another flight of stairs just to be thrust into a reception like area with a large desk in the center with two men standing behind it. Looking to my left I saw a large door that was open, leading towards a market type area with people bustling back and forth like it was any regular day.

For me this was not a regular day. This was hell. I had no idea where I was, why my hair was white, and what this building was. You could say that I had no idea about anything, and in all honesty it was the truth. Instead of running around like an idiot I made my way over to a man standing off to the right who had spiky black hair and was smoking a cigarette. He had three kids sitting with him, but I could care less as I made a bee line for him. When he was within arms width I grabbed him by both shoulders and started shaking him.

"You have to tell me what the hell is going on around here. I have no idea who I am, why my hair is white, where in the hell I am and this building is giving me the creeps. I just had to trek down a fucking mountain like I was the god of rock climbing with four heads on top and almost fell to my death. Then I made my way to this awkward shaped building and then fell on top of this guy with spiky hair and a bandage covering his face and..and…and—" The man suddenly cut me off by shoving his hand over my mouth. He gave me this look as if I was crazy and pushed me away from him. "I don't know who you are and why you're here shaking me, but you had better get a hold of yourself before-"

His sentence was cut short as a man yelled stop. Turning towards the voice I noticed that it was the man I had fell on top of. He seemed very pissed, but I didn't stick around to figure out why. A loud scream came out of my mouth as he took out what seemed to be a knife and TOSS it at me.

The man is trying to kill me. He tossed a knife at my head. If it wasn't for my clumsy self, tripping over a chair I would have had a knife stuck in my back. Not wasting any time I jumped back to my feet and rushed out the door, turning left down an alley and out towards a marketplace. Yelling could be heard behind me, but I didn't stop to listen.

I didn't even do anything for that man to toss a knife at me. All I did was fall on top of him, and that gives him a reason to toss a dangerous weapon at me. Everything went by in a blur as I weaved in and out of people trying to not trip over air as I dodged the many carts that rolled down the dirt road. "Stop right now!" I turned my head to see how many people were following me and gulped as I saw the man smoking the cigarette, the spiky haired guy with the bandage across his face, and four other people right on my tail.

I felt like crying as I tried to run faster from these people. Suddenly the man with the spiky hair was in front of me, and I couldn't help but gasp at his sheer speed. People shouldn't be able to move that fast. He was just behind me so how in the hell was he in front of me now. Turning around to run in the other direction I bumped into a hard chest and fell to the ground without warning. A hand was in my hair as someone roughly pulled me to my feet and pushed my hands behind my back.

"You don't have anywhere to go now."

"B-But I didn't do anything." I cried, struggling in the iron like grip around my wrists.

"You interrupted an important meeting between the hokage and council members."

"What! I was just looking for a bathroom, and then you decide to go and toss a fucking KNIFE AT ME. Who the hell do you think you are, and what gives you the right to just go and do stuff like that. You bastard. Lemme go." Nothing I did helped the cause as the more I struggled the tighter the grip became. I felt a sharp pain in my neck and suddenly my legs gave out from beneath me and my vision began to swarm. I tried to hold unto consciousness as best I could but the pressure seemed to increase, and a few seconds later I was out like a light.

* * *

><p>Pain. That's what I felt when I woke up. There was this throbbing in the back of my head and I couldn't reach up to rub at it as I felt my hands were tied behind my back. I knew I was blindfolded as I could feel the cloth rubbing against my skin, and I couldn't yell as there was a rag stuck in my mouth.<p>

Who the hell does something like this? I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't even know why I was here.

All I know was that I was scared beyond belief because I could feel metal pressed up against my neck and I knew that someone was holding a knife to it.

"She's awake." I heard someone mumble. Shuffling could be heard and soon a door was opened and closed. I didn't hear anything for a few minutes but suddenly I was pushed into a sitting position with a knife still at my throat. The gag came off a few seconds later making me cough and spit out the odd taste in my mouth.

"You will answer my questions to the best of your ability. If I find that you are lying there will be consequences." A rough voice uttered, sending shivers down my spine.

"Name."

Name? What was my name again. I had no idea. But I knew that if I said that, the man would accuse me of lying. Well…I still have to try anyway.

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"No I'm not. I'm telling you that I have no idea who I am. I don't know where I am, why I was lying on top of a mountain—"

"Silence." My mouth shut and I waited for the worst. "Now tell me your name." I growled in frustration at the man's incompetence.

"I'm telling you that I don't know my name! What. You have a stick broken in your ears or something." My face began stinging as the man slapped me. I couldn't help but let out a moan as I felt like my eye exploded. "Tell me your age then."

I bit my lip to stop the insult that I wanted to send at him. What I needed to do was cooperate or else things weren't going to go smoothly.

"Seventeen."

"Village of origin."

"What?"

"The village you come from."

"I don't come from a village."

"Stop lying."

"I'm not lying! I really don't know where I am."

I could hear a heavy sigh next to me and was thankful that I was making this man's job harder than it needed to be.

"Chakra affinity." What was he talking about? And what's chakra?

"I…I'm sorry I don't know what chakra is…"

"You don't know what chakra is?" The knife around my throat was quickly removed and I felt the blindfold fall from my eyes. Opening my eyes I tried to adjust to the brightness, but it took a couple of seconds before a figure came into view. A tall man wearing a black trench coat with a black bandana covering his head. What made him stand out though were the two scars that adorned his face. I kept the gasp in the back of my throat because I knew that he wouldn't appreciate me pointing out the obvious.

"No…Is it someone sort of food or song or something."

He stared at me with an annoyed look on his face. "You aren't playing dumb are you." It seemed more of a statement to himself rather than a question as he turned around and exited the room. The door shut behind him leaving me to my thoughts. Looking down I observed the strange clothing that I was wearing. I had a black and white halter top that stopped at my naval with spandex black shorts that stopped at my upper thigh. I had these odd looking sandals on that were black, but what made me cringe was the fishnet stockings that I was wearing.

I mean talk about looking like a hooker. But the man didn't say anything about my appearance which was very strange. Usually people would have already been calling me out for wearing something like this, but maybe it's normal here. Or..whatever normal really is.

I felt like I was by myself for hours. I couldn't hear anything outside, and that strange man certainly hadn't shown up yet. My stomach began to growl and I blushed at how loud it was. I couldn't even place my hands over it to stop the growling. I sighed and stared at the door for a few more minutes before laying down on my back. Even though it was uncomfortable because my hands were tied I still managed to find a somewhat tolerable position that didn't have them digging into my lower back. My hair cushioned my head a little bit, but it still wasn't a nice spot to be laying in. Voices could be heard outside of the door and I quickly sat up, not wanting It to look like I wasn't serious about the position I was in.

The door opened and an old man with white robes stepped into the room. Behind him were two men with weird masks on, and then the man that had been interrogating me before stood behind all of them.

"Hello young lady. Do you know where you are?" My eye twitched at the question, but he was so kind that I couldn't help but let a small smile crawl unto my face. "No sir."

"You are in Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" I titled my head in confusion. "The what?"

"You've never heard of this village before?" I shook my head as he placed a hand unto his chin.

"Interesting…" He mumbled. "Come. We will discuss this more in my office." He motioned to the man on his left, and the ropes around me suddenly dropped. Finally feeling the blood rushing back into my hands I rubbed a little at them as another masked man helped me to my feet. I gripped his arm harder than necessary as my legs wobbled a little bit from sitting down too long. "Thank you." I whispered. He didn't acknowledge that he heard me, making me scowl a bit.

Douche.

"Bear. Bring her back to my office. I will be there shortly." The old man exited the room leaving me with this bear character as everyone else filed out after him. He put his hand out in front of me making me stare at it like a complete idiot, unsure as to what to do next. "What do you want me to do?" I asked, not really sure what he was trying to get at. I could practically feel the roll of his eyes behind his mask as he grabbed my hand. What happened next is something that not even I know. It was like I was in a washing machine, being twirled around and around before coming to an abrupt stop. I know, it sounds weird explaining it like that, but opening your eyes to see yourself standing in an office rather than an interrogation room seriously gets your blood thinning. We were in one place and then we ended up in another and this man was standing here as if nothing had happened, and I began to freak out.

I ran to the nearest garbage can and chucked up what was in my stomach, not really caring that it wasn't an attractive sound that was escaping my mouth. If you had experienced what I had just experienced you would be losing your lunch as well. After getting rid of my entire stomach I stood back up and wiped my mouth off on a tissue the man handed me. I thanked him of course, obviously not getting a reply, and stood off in the corner not wanting to talk to him let alone that old man again.

I was seriously frightened beyond belief. My name has escaped me, I'm in a strange town. And it just wasn't my day at all.

I was not in the mood to deal with anyone, and I felt as if I was going to lose my stomach just thinking of this.

Oh god.


	2. New friends and a new life

**A/N: I'm assuming most Chuunin and Jounin are at least somewhat acquainted with each other so let's just assume that for the sake of this story. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>After my discussion with the Hokage he had deemed me as "not a threat to the village" but still wanted to monitor my actions. He assigned one "ANBU" member to me, even though I have no idea why they call him that, but that's beside the point. The Hokage arranged an apartment for me and gave me some money to start off, but he said that I would have to find a job soon because that money wouldn't last. After leaving his office, and of course avoiding the glare sent my way by that spiky haired man, I walked around the village trying to find a good market place. Bear was on my right, which was actually kind of annoying because having someone follow you around like they're your tail was going to get tiresome after a while.<p>

"Do you know a good market to go to?" I asked, turning to look at the masked man. Of course he didn't answer me, but that didn't stop me from talking up a storm.

"So what's your name?"

Silence.

"Do you like to do anything in your spare time besides scare people?"

Silence.

I tried not to let my anger and frustration show.

"Did the Hokage give me a name yet?"

"No."

Ahh yes! Victory! Even though it was just a one worded answer it still made me smile. Just to piss him off even more I linked arms with him and dragged him off towards a store that had vegetables and fruits on display outside of the entryway. Because he was technically my "baby-sitter" that meant he had to be with me at all times. But I figured that I might as well make the most of it and be nice to him…for now.

"What's your favorite food or dish?"

He didn't answer me, but he did unlink our arms. Pity.

"Well. I'm going to make us dinner so you must inform me if you're allergic to anything or if you prefer anything at all."

Once again, silence. This silence was really aggravating me, but I kept the inner annoyance to myself and walked around the store picking up fruits and vegetables to put inside of my basket. It only took half an hour to find everything, but by the time we left the sun was starting to set. He was so kind as to carry two of the bags while I was left with four, but my four were light while his were very heavy.

What a gentleman.

Our next stop was a clothing store, as my clothes weren't really acceptable to sleep in. I didn't take long with shopping there because honestly I hate shopping for clothes, and I'm not the type of girl to be hung up on what to wear in the morning. I only spent ten minutes in the store, throwing whatever I could find into the basket as Bear stood off to the side with the groceries. After paying for the clothing and exiting the store I grinned as I followed Bear as he led me to my apartment. It wasn't a shabby apartment, nor was it an expensive one, but it was in the middle.

It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, a very small laundry room and a kitchen. Basically more than I could ask for in an apartment. I watched Bear as he placed the groceries on the table. He made this weird sign with his hand and I realized that he was going to teleport away from here. "WAIT!" He stopped to turn and look at me. "Don't you want to stay for dinner? I assure you my cooking is edible!"

He shook his head before disappearing.

Meh. I'll still leave something on the table in case he comes back hungry.

* * *

><p>After dinner, which consisted of rice, steamed vegetables and some curried chicken, I left the extras in a plate and left it on the table for Bear. Just in case he came back to check up on me and was hungry, at least he could warm it up in the microwave and enjoy a nice meal.<p>

My nightly routine of showering and changing didn't take long. In fact it was quicker than I expected. I stood in front of the mirror brushing my teeth, and for the first time I took a good look at my features. The only good thing about this entire day was that I finally figured out my eye color! Although I felt blind, my eyes were a very pale blue color. That was the only thing that didn't change about my features. My eyes were still blue. Well…that was a lie. The blue was too pale to the point where it looked like my eye was white. If you looked hard you would see the color, but otherwise than that I looked blind. Even though my eyes were a little strange it made me smile when I looked in the mirror as I brushed my teeth.

I can't say I love the way I look. My hair was a striking snow color and I stood out like a sore thumb amongst the people in the crowd. People stared at my strange appearance and it didn't even help that my skin was a sickly white color as well. I groaned and spit angrily into the sink. I felt like an albino. Granted I didn't have red eyes, because god knows that would be scary.

But still….It didn't help that I looked like death itself.

Shutting the light off in the bathroom, I shuffled into the bedroom and threw myself unto the soft covers.

I was thankful that the Hokage was able to arrange all of this for me. If it wasn't for him I would probably still be in that interrogation room with that strange man with the scars. I couldn't even remember his name either.

Sighing, I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. The moon was shining in through the window above my bed, casting shadows all across my room. The day just went by in such a blur, that I didn't have the time to actually sit down and think about what had happened.

The Hokage said that I should see him early in the morning to receive my name and fill out citizenship papers. I was nervous actually. Nervous because I didn't know what my name would be. It was like I was having a child and thinking about what to name it.

If I were to have a female child what would the name be?

Without a doubt I would name her Grace. Why? Because I would hope that she would be graceful in the way she carried herself and that she would be a blessing to those around her.

Ah, who was I kidding. That was such a cheesy answer. I shouldn't think to hard about it though. If I think too hard my brain will go into overdrive and fry itself out.

What I needed to do right now is sleep.

And that's exactly what I did

* * *

><p>Even though there's a window above my head, and sunlight could stream through any minute, that wasn't what woke me up. What woke me up was a hand shaking my shoulders. Moaning a little bit at the person jostling my body, I smacked the hand away and turned over. My lips were parted as if about to say something, but I forgot entirely and continued to dream. I was in that state between dreaming and about to wake. I was aware of my surroundings but not responsive to it. A gruff voice started talking in my ear, but I couldn't make out exactly who it was.<p>

To be honest the voice was a little sexy. No matter how strange that sounded, you too would admit a deep voice talking in your ear sexy. Especially the fact that their hot breath was so close—

"AHH!" I jumped out of bed backing away from the person sitting on my bed. My eyes weren't really adjusted to the light yet, and I had to blink a couple of times before an actually picture came into view.

Bear.

"Why'd you have to wake me up so damn early? You do realize that it's practically six in the morning." Honestly I just pulled that out my ass. I didn't really know what time it was, but it did make my statement seem more believable right? Right.

"It's Ten o'clock."

Fuck.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. I'm late! Why didn't you wake me up early?" Scrambling out of bed and almost hitting Bear in the face I made a beeline for the bathroom, tossing my clothes off as I went along. I could care less that Bear was practically watching me strip naked because I was comfortable with my body. It didn't really matter who saw my body. It was what I did with it that made me insecure. Yeah, I know. Sounds retarded.

Today was the day that I took the quickest shower of my life. Today was also the day that I flashed Bear on the way to my bedroom. Today was the day that I really could care less.

After tossing on my bra and panties I dashed around the room opening bags trying to figure out where the pants I bought were. Yes. I didn't unpack what I bought yesterday. The only unpacking I did was the groceries and that was only because it was a necessity and I didn't want anything to go bad. Giving up on the pants I threw back on the spandex shorts I had, and put on a sports bra that was actually the kind you can wear in public without looking like an idiot. The sports bra called a shirt (not really though) showed off a little too much of my chest. Yes I was heavily endowed. I was actually a very nicely shaped C cup. I loved my boobs because they weren't too big, but weren't very small either. It was enough to make a man drool, which I liked (insert giggle).

The sports bra was completely black with a weird symbol on the front. It looked like a swirl, but it was still cool. Since it did show off a little, I grabbed a jacket just in case anyone looked at me funny.

Exiting my bedroom I raced into the kitchen to almost be clothes lined by a plate that stuck out upon my arrival. "Dude! You could have killed me with that thing." I growled, grabbing the plate and stuffing the eggs and toast into my mouth. Well..more like shoveling it in. Cute right?

After almost choking on my breakfast and earning a hard slap on the back, I brushed my teeth and then exited the apartment making sure to lock it behind me. Bear stretched out his hand, but I backed away from it. "Oh no. Last time you did that I couldn't poop for three hours. I think we'll take the long way." He shrugged at me and led the way towards the Hokage building. Outside the sun was shining bright and kids were running up and down the street with their parents in tow. I smiled at the sight and quickly put my hair into a high ponytail as it was getting hotter by the second. It was only a ten minute walk there, but that ten minutes killed me. I almost…_almost_ regretted not taking the tunnel of doom. Yeah I called that teleportation thing the tunnel of doom. Why? Because…it was a tunnel...that impended doom upon those that entered it.

"Wait here." I nodded and watched as Bear disappeared. I wonder what he does when he's not babysitting me. Probably something really cool, like scaling walls and going diving into a deep dark ocean.

That's just me being silly if you didn't know.

Looking around the room, I found those same people that I had saw the day before: That same man with those three kids, and the spiky haired dude with the bandage. God do I need to stop referring to him as spiky haired dude with the bandage.

I figured apologizing and becoming friends with them would be wise because having enemies in a village like this probably wouldn't be the smartest idea. Getting up from my chair I made my way over to the spiky haired dude that was sitting behind a desk. He was talking to this man that had a bandana around his head, just like that strange man from yesterday. There was this weird symbol etched unto the metal plate on the bandana, but I ignored it and stood in front of his desk. Both men looked up at me and suddenly I felt like a specimen in a lab. They were staring at me with this odd look on their face, but suddenly the man with the spiky hair glared at me. "U-Um…I-I'm s-sorry about y-yesterday. I was scared a-and I've never even been in a village like this before so I kind of overreacted a-and…yeah. I don't want enemies in this town. I want to be able to make friends, but the only person I have talked to so far is Bear but he's about as responsive as a brick wall so…" I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my neck as both men continued to stare at me as if I was some freak.

"Have you been cleared?" Spiky haired dude asked. I nodded, not really thinking about his question and he suddenly smiled at me. "I'm Kotetsu. And that's Izumo."

"O-Oh. Well I'm…" I froze. Wait. I didn't have a name. If I told them that, they were sure to make fun of me. "I-I really don't have a name."

They stared at me with an incredulous look. "Really?" Izumo asked, leaning forward on his desk to look at me more. "U-Uh yeah. I came here today to fill out citizen papers and figure out a name. The Hokage's supposed to be giving me a name today."

"Does that mean you have amnesia?" Both men asked simultaneously.

"Uhh…Kind of." I said scratching the back of my head.

"Well..how about I just call you beautiful for now."Kotetsu said, grinning at me. A light blush tinted my cheeks and both men grinned at my response."I-I guess. But I don't think I'm beautiful. I look very strange."

"What?" Izumo said. He looked me up and down leaving me to feel a little bit uncomfortable under his gaze. "You look just fine to me. And those eyes of yours look so pure and innocent."

I felt a hand grab my forearm and I turned around to see Bear standing behind me. "You moved"

"O-Oh…Sorry. I wanted to apologize to Kotetsu for yesterday and—"

I yelped as Bear dragged me away from both men. Turning back around I waved goodbye to both men. They smiled and returned the wave as I turned back around to watch Bear drag me down hall after hall, up some flight of stairs, and then down another hall.

"Will this ever end?" I mumbled, not really intending for Bear to hear that. Of course he heard, but ignored at as if I had never spoken. A couple of halls later I was ushered into this room that didn't look anything like the office I was in yesterday. It looked more of a meeting room than an office. Bear sat me down in a chair across from the Hokage. He was flanked by people that looked just like Bear except they had different masks on.

"Hello Hokage Sir." I said bowing with respect. I couldn't bow very far seeing as I was sitting down, but I got close enough to a regular one so it counted. "How are you today?" He asked me while pushing a folder into my hands. "I've been better, but it's fine." I answered. Opening the folder I found many papers that I had to fill out. This was the only thing that I knew I wasn't going to enjoy. Filling out papers was like babysitting a kid that kept screaming their head off.

Patience.

I would need patience for this.

"Have you thought of a name for yourself?" I nodded but then shook my head. "I have, but I'd rather you give me one instead." He thought for a moment before speaking.

"Cho Miura or Cho Uchida." Both names had a nice ring to it. I was actually more drawn to the Cho Uchida so I picked that one and wrote it down.

"I believe that staying a citizen is best instead of pursuing a career in the ninja field."

"I'd rather…not be a ninja. No offense or anything."

"None taken." I smiled and the rest of the time we sat in silence. Well except for the occasional question that I had about the papers. Before I knew it I had signed the papers and was on my way to become a Konoha citizen. All that I had to do now was wait until the council members approved it. Or so the Hokage said.

* * *

><p>Bear didn't follow me as I exited the meeting room. I'm assuming that he stayed behind to talk about me. It didn't really bother me, because at least it showed that he kind of cared about me. Well..not really. I didn't know who I was trying to kid. Back at the reception area I saw Izumo and Kotetsu still sitting were they were and I walked over smiling as if I won the lottery.<p>

"I see you have a name now." I nodded excitedly and stretched out my hand. "Cho."

"That's a cute name." Izumo said standing next to me now. Wasn't he the flirt? Kotetsu grinned and I laughed at both of their faces. They were so silly. I think I'd grow to like them. "Do you guys know if there are any jobs available around here?" Kotetsu looked as if he was thinking hard but Izumo was just staring at me. Well…not really me, but rather my chest. I ignored that though. "I think I remember seeing a sign at the ice cream parlor. Either that or Ichiraku's down the street."

"What's Ichiraku's?" I swore I could hear a pin drop as anyone within hearing distance turned to stare at me as if I had grown two heads. "I keep forgetting that you're not from around here." Kotetsu mumbled.

"It's only the best Ramen shop in town." He said, while standing up. It looked like he was packing up his things as well as Izumo.

"Are your shifts over?" They both nodded and I stepped aside so that the both of them could exit. "Now since we're free. We're going to treat you to some Ramen." I couldn't have been happier as I linked arms with the both of them and dragged them outside of the building. "Someone's a little excited." I grinned at Izumo and nodded. "Haven't eaten all day, and filling out papers makes a girl like me hungry." On the way towards Ichiraku's Izumo and Kotetsu got to know me a little bit better. Like my pet peeves, what my favorite color is, you know the works. Half way there, we met this guy named Raidou who decided to join in on this little lunch date. "Wow boys. I didn't know that I was this popular." I grinned at them, but not in any narcissistic way. They couldn't help but return it as we entered into this small shop with stools surrounding the counter. Two people were already there, but we managed to have four extra seats. I sat next to man who was dressed similarly to the three men I entered with.

_He must be a ninja._

He had brown hair pulled up into a cute little ponytail. I had the urge to tug on it, but restraint held me back. The only thing I could do was pout at the cute little poof that stood on top of his head.

"What can I get for you lot?" Staring at the menu I was about to order when Izumo spoke for me. "She'll have the beef ramen and I'll have the oriental." Raidou and Kotetsu ordered Oriental as well which made me pout. "You guys are so boring. You should have some variety." Izumo and Raidou grinned but the rest just stared at me. We made small talk as the man named Teuchi and his daughter Ayame fixed up our ramen. A couple minutes later and a steaming bowl of ramen was set in front of me. I couldn't help but drool at the sight of it.

Now there was a mistake that I made before coming here. You see, it never really registered in my brain that I had no idea how to use chopsticks, nor did I inform these three men of that. It completely slipped my brain and now I would make a fool out of myself. Out of the corner of my eye all three men dug into their steaming bowls, but I turned to glare at the poor bowl. The food didn't do anything to me, but I just felt completely stupid at how something like that could jump past me. Taking in a deep breath, I put a determined look on my face and reached over to grab some chopsticks. My hand knocked with the man's next to me and I blushed and apologized.

"Ahh. I'm sorry. I should have waited for you to pick yours first." He just gave me a light smile and handed me the chopsticks he had in his hand. "It's okay. You can have this one." I slapped on a bright smile and took the chopsticks from him while saying thank you. Ripping the package off I yanked at the sticks so that they could come apart.

Did they?

No.

Was I mad?

Yes.

"Come on you stupid blocks of wood. Is it too much to ask to just unwind yourselves from each other and just cooperate." I mumbled not realizing that I had an audience. After a much failed attempt, a hand covered mine before breaking the sticks apart. "Oh. Thank you!" I said, smiling at the man that had handed me the chopsticks. "I sometimes don't know how to break these buggers apart. Shows how much they got the best of me." I laughed nervously and put both chopsticks in my left hand before attempting to slurp some noodles into my mouth.

It actually wasn't as hard as it seemed and I didn't make a fool out of myself. Thank god, or else I would have probably never gotten over the embarrassment. After finishing my bowl I pushed it away from me and rubbed my stomach in delight. "Wow. That really was the best ramen I've ever had." Teuchi thanked me for the compliment and I turned to the brown haired man next to me. "Hi. I'm Cho. Thanks for helping me and everything. I sometimes make a complete fool of myself but you didn't laugh. Thanks for that." His soft smile made a blush rise to my cheeks. "You're welcome. I'm Iruka."

I didn't know why I did it. But I did. And I can't really take back what I did, but it was so worth it to see Iruka red as a fire truck.

You see, after he had introduced himself I reached up and fingered his ponytail with a look of awe on my face. "Wow. You're hair is sooo soft. I wonder what it would look like down. Maybe I could brush it and braid it. You think that'd be nice Iruka." Everyone around me started laughing, but me fingering his hair wasn't what made him blush. Well…maybe just a little. What fueled the fire was the boy that was sitting next to him with the blonde hair blurted out something that even made me red. "Hey Iruka-sensei! Is that you're girlfriend!"

Iruka began to stutter and I pulled my hand back away from his hair. "N-Naruto! You can't just say that. We just met. S-She's n-not my g-girlfriend." Awww, he was just so adorable. He was definitely the shy type. "Awwww. Iruka-sensei. She's so pretty though. Maybe you two will be in the future." At that point my face was burning and I quickly stood up, almost knocking into Izumo. "Ahhh….That's nice and all, but I think we should be going. You boys don't mind walking me home right. It is kind of dark outside." They shook their heads and I waved to Iruka and the Naruto kid before disappearing into the streets.

A cold gust of wind passed by and I shivered as the cold nipped at my bare skin. Damn Bear for making me forget my damn jacket. A warm jacket was draped over my shoulders and I looked up to see Raidou smiling at me. "You seemed cold." He mumbled. In those few hours that I had gotten to know these three Raidou was the most soft spoken out of all of them. I smiled in thanks and before I knew it we were standing in front of my apartment door. "Thanks for the great time guys. I'll see you, yeah." They nodded, and I quickly gave each of them a hug before entering my apartment. I immediately went for my bedroom as I was getting extremely tired from just those few hours.

After changing and brushing my teeth, I threw myself into bed not really caring that I was lying on top of the sheets.

I just made three new friends.

That was enough to put a smile unto my face as I drifted off to sleep.


	3. Lunch Date!

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews from AngelInDark, and Fushigi Yuki. I appreciate the comments and hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a little humorous and a little bit shorter than the last chapter. I have chapter four and five written already, but I need to edit them...a lot. I want to change up the storyline a bit, so an update may come much later. THANKFULLY though I have study hall (FINALLY!) So I can bring my laptop to school and write for a good 49 minutes. The only problem is is that Fanfic doesn't work at our school (sad face) so I can only update when I get home :). But enough of the rambling, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Waking up the next morning was a hassle.<p>

Why?

Well, every time I woke up I went right back to bed. I mean it wasn't like I had anything important to do, but it'd be nice to go and look for a job. I needed some money now because the money that the Hokage had given me was slowly running out. I only had enough to go shopping for groceries one more time, and maybe a couple of more shirts. After yawning and rolling out of bed I made a nice breakfast of eggs and toast before taking a nice warm shower. I didn't bother to put a towel around myself since the bedroom was right there, and it wasn't really necessary. I'm fine with walking butt naked around my apartment. After changing into a plain white kimono top and black pants, I slipped on those awkward sandals that I'd probably never get used to, before heading out the door.

My goal today was to find a well paying job.

Walking around Konoha I glanced at each shop store trying to figure out which ones had Help Wanted. After walking around for more than an hour, I was starting to get the feeling that I would never find a store. Yelling could be heard behind me, but I ignored it and continued walking. That person was probably yelling for someone else.

Without warning I felt myself being tackled from behind and into the ground. Who in the hell tackles people from behind? I growled and made to get up, only to realize that my hand was bent in an awkward position.

Great, this idiot probably broke my wrist. A searing pain shot throughout my wrist causing me to hiss and cradle it closer towards my chest. Someone grabbed my right hand and pulled me up so that I was now standing. "Hey! It's Iruka's girlfriend." My eyes slipped shut and I fought to get that irritated look off my face.

The person who tackled me was definitely that Naruto kid from last night. I opened my eyes to be met with a kid with bright yellow hair and blue eyes.

Definitely Naruto.

Standing next to him was a girl with pink hair who was blushing. Wait what? Pink hair! It was long that reached past her shoulders and pooled around her lower back. Next to the girl with the pink hair was a boy who looked like he didn't want to be there at all. He had Jet black hair with onyx eyes to match and he had a scowl lining his face. Behind him was a man with spiky silver hair and one eye. Yes.

He had this headband like thing covering one, and a mask that literally took up the rest of his face except that one eye.

Talk about weird.

"For the record Naruto. I'm not Iruka's girlfriend."

"Aww, but last night…"

"Last night Iruka and I confirmed that we're not in any sort of romantic relationship. And what idiot assumes that I'm dating his sensei when I just met him that same night." Naruto's face fell a little bit, but my bashing didn't just end there.

"And look what you did, you big goof. You broke my wrist." I shoved my wrist that was bent in the most unnatural way possible into his face just so he would feel the guilt even more. "Oh my god!" The pink haired girl said while hiding behind the scowling boy. The man with the silver hair sighed and took my hand gently so that he could examine it. "It definitely is broken." He said after a while. I glared at Naruto with all my might and shoved past all of them not wanting to have to deal with an idiot. "Wait! What about going to the hospital?"

"I'll just get Kotetsu and Izumo to take me. I don't need you're idiotic self damaging my poor body anymore." Yeah I was a little harsh on him, but seriously. He just broke my wrist by tackling me. Was I supposed to be nice and caring after that?

No.

But that still didn't stop Naruto from falling in step with me as I made my way to the Hokage tower.

"Who's Izumo and Kotetsu?" Naruto asked while throwing his hands behind his head. Seeing as I wasn't in the mood to be nice, I decided to have a little fun with his gullible self.

"My pimps."

I heard the man with the silver hair cough awkwardly as the three kids around me looked as if they had no idea what that was. "What's a pimp?" Naruto asked, not ashamed at all. Grinning to myself I turned around to face the four that were following me. Bending down to Naruto's level I smiled sadistically while showing all of my teeth. "Oh you know. Just a man that collects my earnings."

"Earnings?" Naruto repeated with a hand on his chin. "Oh you mean like money!" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I turned around and continued walking. "Yes Naruto. Like money."

"Oh so what's your job then." I was about to answer him before Silver haired Cyclops over there puts a hand over my mouth. "I think that's enough." He said, eyes turned downwards till they were in the shapes of upside down u's.

Was that an attempt at a smile?

"I think uh…"

"Cho."

"I think Cho here's done with her explanations."

_For now._

It wasn't long before the Hokage building loomed above us, standing out amongst the other buildings. I actually just realized that I've been here every day since my coming into this village. I should probably live here since I spend more time here than I do in my own apartment. Entering the reception area for the millionth time I saw Kotetsu and Izumo off to the side talking to a man I had never seen before. Without hesitation I strode over towards all three men. Kotetsu was the first to notice and he waved at me. I waved with my broken wrist and his eyes went wide. "What happened?" He asked coming around the desk to gently take my wrist into his.

"Oh you know. Being tackled by orange blobs. Just the norm." He scowled at the state my wrist was in and looked behind me to notice my little followers.

"Kakashi."

Both men nodded at each other causing me to look back and forth between them. Kotetsu nodded and gently picked up my wrist again. "I think this needs to be set before you do anything else."

"Well I was looking for a job...until boy genius here decides to go tackle me."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Actually. Now that I think about it. No. No you didn't say sorry." Naruto whined a bit before I smiled at his childish antics. "Seriously Naruto. It's fine. I was just kidding with you." Izumo joined us right after and also made a big deal about my wrist. Of course I just brushed him off and all seven of us began making our way towards the hospital. It was an awkward silence before Naruto just had to go and ask that question.

"Are you two pimps?" Kakashi, Kotetsu, and Izumo literally stopped as the four of us continued like it was no problem that he just asked that question.

"WHAT!" Both men that were being accused of being pimps said simultaneously. "Well Cho here said that you two were her pimps and that you collect her earnings, so I was just curious." By this time Kotetsu and Izumo were red faced and Kakashi seemed like he wasn't doing any better in trying to keep his face neutral.

"You know Naruto. You're seriously gullible."

An awkward silence fell over us.

"What does gullible mean?

* * *

><p>After a "medic-nin" healed me, and my mini little freak out when his hand turned green. Kakashi, his students and I exited the hospital as the sun began to set. Izumo and Kotetsu had left a while ago saying that they had gate duty tonight. I had no idea what that meant but nodded as the two of them poofed away. I'll never get used to that. Damn ninja's and their disappearing skills.<p>

"I can't believe you were so scared of the green glow."

"You would be freaked out too if you saw a man's hand glowing green. I mean he just put my bone right back into place without a cast or anything. I'm seriously never going to get used to you ninja people."

"You mean you've never heard about ninja." Sasuke asked.

The first sentence I had heard him speak this entire time. Of course it shocked me that he wasn't mute and I just had to voice this earning a scowl, but I did answer his question.

"Well I have heard of ninja, but I never knew they still existed. I thought they were like some myth or something." I couldn't help but shuffle awkwardly as all four of them stared at me like I was the freak.

"What." I yelled. "Take a picture it lasts longer." With that said I turned on my heel and briskly walked towards my apartment. Maybe Bear would like some dinner tonight. Speaking of him, I haven't really seen the cuddly teddy anywhere. "You said you were looking for a job, right?" Kakashi asked as he walked in stride with me. I nodded. "I would have found one, if it wasn't for your idiotic student."

"Hey! I heard that."

"You were supposed to." I shouted over my shoulder before looking back ahead of me. "So what rank are you?" I asked wanting to make small talk. To me Kakashi seemed like a lonely fellow and I wanted to make him be my friend. I don't know why I had the sudden urge to befriend everyone I met, but I just did. Speaking of that I still haven't apologized to the smoking ninja that I shook the other day. He probably told some people about this crazy albino haired woman shaking him into next week. Giggling a bit to myself I didn't realize that Kakashi had been staring at me. "Did you say something?" I asked.

"Jounin. "

"A what?"

"My rank is Jounin."

"Oh." I remember that the Hokage had explained to me the ninja system. He said that younger kids become genin after they attend the academy, and then they take the chuunin exams. He explained to me that the genin that do exceptional well in the exams are then proclaimed chuunin afterwards . Then the next level would be Jounin, but I kind of spaced out at that point so I don't know how one goes from chuunin to jounin. I'm assuming they take some kind of test or something.

"What's your favorite food!"

"Maa…"

"Oh come on. Don't be like Bear and not answer me." At the mention of Bear his eyebrow rose.

"Miso soup with eggplant." I bumped hips with him and nudged his forearm. "See. Was that so hard now?"

"Naruto what's your favorite food." I asked without turning around.

"ICHIRAKU'S RAMEN!" Leave it to Naruto to scream it to the world.

"Sakura what's your favorite food."

"U-Um. Well..I like Tempura."

"What about you Sasuke?"

"Hn." I turned to stare at him. "Oh come on. I know you have some sort of favorite food."

He didn't say anything but he stared at me for a long time before sighing. "Tomato soup."

I grinned at all of them. We finally made it to my front door and I turned to all of them with a goofy smile on my face. "You guys don't mind me making you lunch tomorrow, right?"

There were no objections so I did to them what I did last night to Kotetsu, Izumo, and Raidou.

I hugged all of them. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea as Kakashi stiffened at my sign of affection, as well as Sasuke. Sasuke seemed to tense more than him so I quickly let go of him before moving to Sakura and Naruto. Naruto hugged me the longest and had to be pulled away by Kakashi. "Training ground 13." I nodded and closed the door behind me.

I would have jumped for joy at the new friends I made but seeing Bear standing in front of me had me squeaking like a pig. "Hi Bear. Would you like something to eat?" He shook his head and stepped backwards to give me room to walk. "Sorry I took so long, but I had to go to the hospital and treat my broken wrist." Quickly making some instant ramen I shoved it into his hand and told him to eat it. "I promise I won't watch." With that said I walked away so that I could take a quick shower.

The shower didn't last long, and I completely forgot that I had left my towel and pajama's in my bedroom. Sighing at my stupidity I calmly walked out of my bathroom. And of course Bear was right there when I streaked right past him. _I hope he has a nosebleed or something_. Just to take away from that calm demeanor he always has. I knew that I was giving him the perfect view of my ass, but couldn't really care less as I slipped into some panties, completely ignoring putting on a bra and pulled on a long sleeved shirt. The shirt fell a little past my butt, but if I lifted my hands up you could see the bright yellow underwear that I was wearing.

After brushing my teeth and turning off all the lights in the house I said a quick goodnight to Bear before retreating back to my room. What surprised me was that he spoke before he poofed away.

"You have no shame."

I grinned to myself.

Hey. That's four words.

* * *

><p>For once I woke up early. Maybe it was because I wanted to have enough time to make everyone lunch. It motivated me that morning to get up early. My shower was long, but it wasn't nearly as long as the other one's I've taken. While my hair air dried I pulled out my spandex shorts and put on my corset that I was wearing the first day I got here. I tied my hair up into a high ponytail and let my bangs frame my face. Better to cook with your hair up anyway.<p>

By the time lunch rolled around my kitchen was a mess. From making Tomato soup to the tempura to Miso with eggplant it really took up my entire morning. I stopped to make some breakfast as Bear was sitting at the table watching my every move, but I decided to ignore him and hum to myself to pass the time. I didn't turn around as he ate, so that he could have some privacy while eating, which I'm sure he was thankful of. Looking around my kitchen I found some fancy containers that I didn't know I had, to put all of the food in. All I needed to do was order some ramen to go from Ichiraku's and I'd be on my way.

Cleaning up my kitchen took less time, and I was thankful for that as I didn't want to make them wait any longer. Placing everything in a basket, I asked Bear if he was coming which he nodded. That surprised me, but he'd probably disappear after helping me deliver the food. Being the nice person that I am I packed an extra lunch just in case he decided to disappear on me.

After locking the apartment door we headed down to Ichiraku's to order some Beef ramen. I wasn't really sure what kind Naruto wanted, but I ordered that and Oriental just in case. With our hands fully loaded, Bear led the way towards Training ground 13. We had to exit Konoha's gate where I saw Raidou standing. I tried to wave the best I could at him in which he smiled and returned the wave. We had to walk for a good five minutes before we heard the sounds of metal clashing against each other towards our right.

We entered the field and I saw Naruto and Sasuke going at each other with their full strength. I was shocked by all of this that I couldn't help but just stand and watch them. I knew ninja were fast, but this seriously iced the cake. They were incredible. The sheer speed that they had amazed me and I couldn't stop the Wow that passed through my lips. It went on for another three minutes before each boy stopped, clearly out of breath.

"Good job everyone."

Kakashi seemed to have emerged from the trees startling me as I didn't even hear a twig snap. Well…they're ninja for a reason.

"Hi everyone!" I smiled and made my way towards them with Bear towing behind. "Like I promised. Lunch is here." Naruto jumped ten feet in the air, nearly giving me a heart attack, and practically snatched the ramen out of my hands.

"Miso with eggplant for you." I said handing Kakashi his dish.

"Tempura for the beautiful Sakura." She blushed as I handed her her dish.

"And for the handsome Sasuke, tomato soup. There's some bread in that basket over there if you want to dip into the soup." He just "hn'ed" me, and sat a little away from the rest of the group.

Maybe he's just antisocial.

I turned towards Bear as he tried to hand me the last box, but I pushed it back into his hands. "Nope! That one's yours. I made this lunch especially for you. So enjoy it." He left without even saying thank you and I sat down to enjoy my steamed vegetables with rice.

"This is really good, Cho-chan." Sakura complimented. Everyone nodded, even Sasuke, before continuing to dig into their meal. A silence passed over us, but it wasn't an awkward one. Just a nice silence as if we were enjoying each other's company. Which I hope they were. After finishing my meal I placed the bowl down and snatched an eggplant out of Kakashi's bowl. He stared at me with a blank look before doing that awkward eye smile and….wait a minute. How did he eat practically all of that without me noticing?

My eyes squinted in suspicion at him before popping the eggplant into my mouth. It practically melted at the touch of my tongue and I shuddered at how warm it was. This was the best cooking ever. Usually I don't praise myself because my cooking never really turns out that well, but this…this I think I overdid.

"Wow. That was really good." I whispered. Of course the air took it away and no one heard it, but it put a smile unto my face.

Stretching a bit, I stood up and collected everyone's bowls before storing it into the basket I carried. "It was nice having lunch with you all, but I must return to the village to continue job hunting."

"Are you sure you'll be alright walking back."

I nodded. "Don't worry about me. I have a good sense of direction."

"I'm not worried about your sense of direction." Awww. Kakashi really did care. I chuckled at his protective air and gave him a quick hug which he of course was stiff in. "Don't worry about me," I repeated while poking him in the forehead. "I'll be fine." After giving hugs to everyone, and a very reluctant Sasuke, I gathered my belongings and left the training field. It didn't take me long to arrive at the gate, and when I did I noticed four people standing in front of a desk handing Raidou some papers.

I wonder if they were returning from a trip or something. I walked up to Raidou and smiled at him, but my gaze rested a little longer on their headbands. Looking back and forth between Raidou's headband and their headbands I noticed that the symbols were different. Maybe they come from a different village. "What village do you come from?" I asked. All four turned to glare at me, and I shrunk back a little bit behind Raidou. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk to them.

They left without speaking and I turned to Raidou to voice my thoughts. "Who were they?"

"They come from the Village Hidden in the Grass."

"What is up with your Villages and being hidden in something? Next thing you know they're going to have a Village hidden in some rain or snow or something."

"Actually…" He started, but I cut him off with my hand. "Don't even." I said while walking away.

It was too much ninja stuff for one day. I returned back to my apartment to find Bear sitting in my living room with another person. He looked like he was a cat of some sort. "I'm guessing that's Tiger." No one acknowledged me so I went to the kitchen to wash up the dishes from the basket. After finishing the dishes I dried my hands and exited the apartment once again.

Today I was going to get a job. And I don't care if it kills me. I needed a job or else I wouldn't have any money left. And I couldn't ask the Hokage for any more money. I would be utterly sad if that happened. I can't take money from older men. I'd feel like I was using him or something

* * *

><p>I eventually did find a job. There was this small corner store that had job listings and helped you get settled into a new job, which I had no idea existed. I stumbled upon it when I saw a young teenager walking into the store asking for a job. Of course I stopped to listen and then noticed that the entire window was filled with clippings of help wanted.<p>

The older woman behind the counter smiled at me as I entered and I asked her if there was a well paying job closer by my apartments. She gave me a long list of jobs, but the one that caught my attention was that the academy needed an assistant to watch over kids when teachers were on their lunch breaks. The only reason why that one stood out to me so much was the fact that I remember the Hokage talking about the Academy. He said that after the academy kids graduated to genin level. I felt like I needed to be a part of the cause so I of course accepted. She gave me these papers to fill out, and sent me on my way towards the academy.

It didn't take me long to find the building as it was pretty big and you couldn't miss it.

The woman at the front desk looked like she was beaming rainbows out of her ass as she ushered me into a room that looked like it needed major filing. "No one's really been coming in asking for jobs, and we have too many kids on our hands so filing never really gets done. You're actually the first person that's come in since the last kids have graduated, and we can't be more grateful."

"Wait. I don't need an interview or something." I asked, clearly shocked that I was just hired on the spot.

"Of course not honey. I'm sure you know your alphabet and can file perfectly fine. Taking care of kids isn't really hard so I'm sure you'll do just fine." I grinned at the lady and turned towards her.

"Thank you so much for the job. I don't know how I can repay you, but I desperately needed one and you're the closest to my apartment, so once again thank you."

"The names Ishida."

"I'm Cho."

"Well Cho. I'm sure this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."

I smiled in response.


	4. Kiss and Tell

**A/N: Typed another one. Aren't I on a rol**l. **Hope you enjoy this chapter! The end I thought was very cute :) I'm sorry if Hanabi seems OOC, but the show doesn't really go into detail about her personality. I'm assuming because she's a Hyuuga, she's hard and doesn't laugh, but I would enjoy giving her some emotions for the sake of the story. Enjoy my update :)**

It was fun working at the Academy actually. I met most of the teachers and the students seemed to take a liking to me. A lot of the little girls wanted to sit down with me at lunch time so that they could brush my hair. Of course I blushed when they kept calling me such a pretty lady. I don't really consider myself a lady. I'm only just seventeen. I'd have to wait till I was about twenty before I fully considered myself a lady. A small girl with pale eyes just like myself that went by the name of Hanabi seemed to take an interest in me. Most of the time she sat by herself, but occasionally she would sit next to me and ask me about my life. She was a very quiet spoken girl who knew when to ask questions and when to just listen. I was actually glad that she was like that.

Most of the girls that were around me seemed to love to yell in my ear at every chance they got. My ears couldn't take thousands of Naruto's at once, so I made up this game that whoever stays quiet the longest when Cho-sensei was tired, got candy at the end of the day.

You could imagine that by the time I got home my pocket was void of candy. I found out that Iruka-sensei worked here and we usually sat together at lunch time with Inaba-sensei and Raiko-sensei in the far corner of the school. It was close enough to the children if they needed help, but far away that all the screaming didn't get to our heads. On this particular day it was quite gloomy. All the kids had already left except Hanabi. She was sitting by herself on the swing waiting for her father to pick her up, but it seemed like he forgot. Iruka and all the other teachers had already left so I offered to stay with Hanabi until her dad came. Half an hour passed and still no sign of her dad.

I pouted at the sky and whipped out my umbrella as rain started pouring down.

"Come on Hanabi-chan. I'll walk you home." She nodded and slipped her tiny hand into mine as we walked in the direction of her house. My umbrella was a little tiny to share with two people so I picked her up and held her as she gave me directions to her house.

"I'm sure you're dad lost track of time Hanabi-chan."

"It's ok Cho-sensei." She mumbled, while leaning her head against my shoulder. Kids made me smile, and Hanabi acting like such an adorable kid made me want to squeeze her tightly. I restrained myself of course as I didn't want to suffocate the poor child. "Make a left here and the compound is right up ahead." I nodded and made a left down a small alley before a huge compound came upon us. I tried not to gasp at the sheer size of it, but my brain never functioned with my mouth to well. "Waoh.." I said gazing up at the tall Japanese style house.

"You're really rich Hanabi-chan." She giggled at my awed stare, but I ignored it and entered into the courtyard. Sitting on the steps was a boy with long brown hair that seemed to be meditating. I didn't want to disturb him so I headed towards the back where shoes were lined up against the doorway. Placing Hanabi unto her feet, I watched her quickly slip off her sandals and run inside of the house. I hesitated for a moment not sure if I should wait for someone to come out and say goodnight. I doubted a Hyuuga would bother with someone like me. After a minute or so of thinking I turned around to leave , but a slight tugging of my sleeve halted me midstride. I turned around to see Hanabi and her father standing in front of me. I knew that Hanabi's clan was well respected so I placed both hands over my stomach and bowed as low as I could. "I thank you for bringing my child home safely." I smiled and bowed again "There is no need to thank me. I did what was right." His hard gaze bore into my soft one and he turned around with a flutter of his clothes leaving Hanabi and I in the courtyard. "Thank you Cho-sensei."

I sent a goofy grin towards her and ruffled her hair a bit. "Any time honey." I made my way back towards the entrance of the compound to see the boy that was once meditating staring at me with a strange look on his face. I smiled and waved at him as he nodded in my direction. Before long I was back on the empty roads of Konoha making my way back towards the academy as I had forgotten that my bag was still in the teacher's room. The trek back took longer than expected as the wind became harsher throwing me off balance more than once.

Once back inside of the teacher's room, I saw the man that was supposed to lock up the academy for the day. Even though I didn't know his name I still called out and waved to him before picking up my belongings and leaving once again. The sky seemed to darken more as heavy clouds loomed above, casting dark shadows across the streets. No one was out at this time because of the weather condition, leaving the streets void of life. I was the only one walking on this main road making a shiver run down my spine.

I felt like someone was watching me, which creeped me out because feelings like this were usually true. I began to walk quicker, annoyed that these sandals weren't really meant for walking through mud. More than once my foot got stuck inside of a pile of mud, but I safely made it back to my apartment without any trouble.

Still….

I felt like someone was watching me though.

Opening the apartment door I saw Bear and his friend Tiger once again sitting in my living room playing shogi. I don't know why Bear started bring his so called friend over, but it was starting to get a little tiresome seeing Tiger and another animal besides Bear inside of my apartment.

This isn't just some shack you can hole yourself up in whenever you please.

But as the kind host that I am. I made a vegetable soup for all three of us.

Dinner was soup, because outside was very cold and I'm sure that they were cold as the heat wasn't on in the apartment.

But maybe ninja are used to this sort of thing. Placing some two cups of tea, and two bowls of soup I entered in the living room to see another "ANBU", making three sitting in my living room. I turned back around and placed another bowl and cup unto the tray before making my way back into the living room.

_If I see one more goddamn animal inside here, I swear I'm going to have an aneurism right on this floor._ Thankfully it was still just those three, and they graciously accepted my soup and tea with a nod of their heads. I headed back into the kitchen to eat by myself, just to give them their privacy. The most ANBU I've seen in my apartment at one time had been five. Apparently it was some sort of game night as dice were being thrown and money was being slapped down unto the table. That night I met three other animals. Hawk, Eagle, and Raccoon. They weren't very welcoming the first time, but after a while they warmed up to me. Now I set five bowls of food on my table almost every night, to wake up the next morning to see them all empty. Seems like I'm feeding an army of ANBU now.

It was a nice company, even though they weren't really talkative, but just knowing that they were there made me happy.

I wonder what ANBU stands for.

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning to find five masks staring at me.<p>

Yup. They were hungry. Ushering them out of my room with my hand I slipped on a black sports bra and black pants before making my way into the kitchen. Six people sat at my table this morning and I had to force myself not to scowl. Bear, Tiger, Hawk, Eagle, Raccoon, and an unknown.

I'm seriously going to have to lay down some ground rules.

"What does everyone want for breakfast?"

Silence.

"Now don't everyone talk at once. I know this is a tough decision."

Of course that went on hard ears. Damn these poker faced ninja. I can't see their damn expressions behind those masks.

"Guess its eggs then."

I prepared a large meal that consisted of tea, grilled cheese, eggs, bacon, and toast. These men surely know how to eat. After placing everything on the table, I quickly grabbed my share and headed into the living room. The poofs that came twenty minutes later indicated that it was alright for me to enter the kitchen.

The only person sitting at the table was Bear, and I asked him a question.

"So who's the sixth?"

"Crow." And with that he poofed away.

Before leaving the house I changed into a light blue kimono top with white pants and wrote a quick note to those ANBU guys.

_ANBU,_

_Food is in the fridge if you get hungry. Dinner will be served around six and I expect no more than six people in this damn apartment. If I find one more ANBU member in this apartment, I swear to any living god out there that hell will be raised. I may not be a ninja, but I have my ways of persuasion. Now be kind and don't make a mess of my apartment. I cleaned it this morning and don't want to come home to see a tornado has run through my house. Have fun big boys._

_Cho._

That night I did only get six people. But the next morning two more came into existence and for the next three days, three more people showed up.

Great.

One Month later.

It was the day of the chuunin exams. I was quite happy for everyone as they would be taking tests in order to become chuunin's. I gave told Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto that I got them a gift for their "advancement" towards chuunin. Sakura got an emerald necklace to match her eyes, and she thanked me more than once for it. Naruto got a black Konoha headband, although he said he wouldn't wear it until he got stronger, and I got Sasuke a red necklace to match his Sharingan eyes. Although I don't know what that meant, it still looked pretty cool whenever I saw him activate it.

I'll never get over these weird people.

Over this past month I became closer and closer with everyone I knew. Iruka and I were practically inseparable as we were always doing stuff together. It wasn't anything romantic, but more of a brother sister relationship. Raidou seemed to speak more when around me and I felt like he was my cute little brother even though he was older than me. That didn't really make sense, but since when do I have to make sense to make sense…

That sounds so retarded.

Kakashi seemed to enjoy my company and he even introduced me to Kurenai and Asuma. To be honest when Asuma and I saw each other he wasn't really happy to see me. I had apologized to the point where he got fed up and just told me to shut up. After that it was like magic. Not really, but we got along more. I could tell that Kurenai and Asuma had a thing going on as they both always stole glances at each other when they thought others weren't looking.

Hey I can be a ninja too if I wanted.

Gai…well. Gai honestly scared me. He always yelled about youth and blossoming flowers that I couldn't help but try not to associate myself with him. Kakashi always teased me about it, but I always denied it saying that his green spandex suit was what drew me away. Gai's fashion was just…

Let's not even go there. His thing was just sitting there, like it was waiting for someone to either just grab it and go, or kick it to the next millennium. Not that I thought about grabbing and…

Izumo was sweet to the point where I developed a small crush on him. Of course Kakashi knew because he said I wasn't really being inconspicuous about my gazes and small giggles. Now he blackmails me and says that if I don't do as he says he's going to tell Izumo. I already suspected that he did already know, but he never really acted as if he did. Looks like that's getting me nowhere.

Kotetsu was like that goofy older kid that you just got along with. He would listen to my problems, not that I really had many, but he was still such a great listened. I had a feeling he liked me, but I couldn't like someone that I looked up to as a nice goofy brother. Izumo on the other hand….

Naruto. I can't even describe how close Naruto and I have gotten together. We always had Ramen night where he would come over and I would cook a huge pot of Ramen and we would both stuff our faces until we couldn't eat anymore. Then we would play a round of Shogi, which he actually wasn't too bad at, before we called it a night. He slept in the extra bedroom, and on those nights no ANBU showed up. Thank goodness for that. Naruto was just a little bubble of joy in my life and I felt like if I lost him, I would lose myself as well.

Sakura was very nice, but her complete infatuation with Sasuke had me puking just thinking about it. She doesn't focus on her training and only swoons over how good Sasuke-kun is. I remember taking her out to lunch one day and telling her my entire thoughts about her and Sasuke, and she seemed to dislike me after that, but one day she came up to me and apologized. She said that I was completely right and that she should be more focused on her training. After that Sasuke seemed to warm up to me more.

Sasuke warmed up to me, but he was still cold at sometimes. To be honest I actually took him out to lunch once, even though he didn't really talk, it was still a nice meal. He told me a little about himself, while I practically spilled my life story. I told him that I hated animals like Bears and Tigers, but he really didn't get the hidden meaning.

I met some of my friends' students and they were very nice to me. My favorite person to bother though was Shikamaru. He was really really reallllyyyy lazy. Like I sometimes had to come to his house just to wake him up. But I knew where his lazy attitude came from.

His father.

Shikamaru was like a splitting image of his dad. Same hairstyle, same piercings, same bored and drawled out tone. I felt like they were twins. The only difference was that his dad had scars on his face while Shikamaru's was bare.

The person that I loved to talk to the most even though there weren't really many responses was Shino. I loved how bugs were used in his style of fighting, even though the fact that the bugs lived in his system creeped me out. He was a very calm and collected person who more observed than engaged.

I liked people that observed.

Anyway. I'm getting a little off track.

I woke up to see nine masks staring at me, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

It seemed to be a daily occurrence now. Wake up with six or more animal masks staring at me. Make breakfast, give them their food, eat by myself in my bedroom or living room, and then clean up the dishes.

They were actually much nicer and some even offered to clean the dishes while I took a shower in the morning. Because I have so many people in my house sometimes, I was actually thinking of buying the apartment next door and knocking down the wall so that it was extended. I could change the living room next door into a bedding area as well as have the three extra bedrooms next door to. I told Bear my thoughts but he poofed away without even answering me.

I figured that it was a yes since he didn't object, but you know it'd still be nice if people answered once in a while. If I were to actually buy the next apartment I'd have to get another job.

That would actually be very nice. I wouldn't be tired at all because going from a rowdy Academy to a quite bookstore seemed enjoyable.

The bookstore down the street was looking for a cashier and I heard that you get paid ten ryo an hour. Now that's pretty darn good. The hours were bendable, so if I were to stay late at the academy I'd still be able to get to the bookstore and work late as well. It just worked out perfectly.

Since it was going to be a big event, in my mind of course, I changed into the most expensive clothes I had. It was a white kimono top with pale blue flowers etched in it to bring out my eyes. I then had white ninja pants on and black sandals. Brushing out my hair quickly I let my bangs frame my face before putting it into a Japanese style bun. Looking at myself in the mirror was never something I would get used to. My pale skin, white hair and practically blind eyes stood out more than anything. Sighing I exited my bedroom and entered the kitchen. Only six people sat there while the other three seemed to be in the living room. I made a large breakfast of Oriental Ramen and for those that might not want it, I cooked up some steamed vegetables with rice and poured a rich spicy sauce over it.

"Enjoy boys."

Some mumbled thanks, while others just nodded. Quickly taking my share of rice and vegetables I swiped a piece of bread from the counter and headed back into my room. The poofs started coming and soon Bear was left in the kitchen.

How did I know? Well I only heard eight poofs and Bear always stays after to either just sit in a calm silence with me or say Thank you. Today I expected an answer from him though.

"Bear." He turned to stare at me.

"Do you think it's a good idea, since you guys are always here?" I grabbed unto his arm before he could poof away. Of course with me now on his arm he couldn't just disappear so he sat there staring at the table. I assumed he was staring at the table since his mask was pointing in that direction. What came out of his mouth shocked me though.

"We shouldn't get attached to you."

That was the most he's said to me since we've known each other. "And why not?" I challenged, clearly not affected by his words. "It's dangerous to have a weakness."

"I'm a weakness?" He nodded. Well that's a shocker. Glad to know that he enjoys my company. "How would anyone know though? I mean I haven't told anyone about you guys staying in my apartment."

"I know."

"Then what?"

He seemed to sigh at my constant badgering. "Cho…" My eyes widened as he called me by my name. He never did that…ever. This must be something serious then. "Does that mean I won't see you again?" I could feel my voice tremble and the tears stinging the back of my eyes. He couldn't just leave like that. I was just starting to crack his shell. It took me a month to do that…more than a month. He couldn't just leave. This entire time I was here I hadn't cried once, but now the tears started flowing and I couldn't help but let out a sob as the thought of him leaving hit me again and again.

"Cho…" He said this time more softly. I felt hands on both sides of my face as he turned my head so that he was staring at me. Well more like me staring at his mask. I could see the little eye holes and bright blue eyes started back at me. At seeing his eyes I couldn't help but let the tears flow harder. He sighed and slowly took one hand from my face and placed it over my eyes. His hands were warm.

I was scared at what was going to happen, but then warm lips were covering mine and I couldn't help but kiss back. I wanted it to last longer but at the sound of a poof, and the coldness of my lips I knew he was gone. He wouldn't be coming back.


	5. Cunis, CUNUS, Chunis Exam

**A/N: Question: How did you come up with the main characters name?**

**Answer: I was eating yogurt, and the brand was Chobani….Bani sounded weird, so I just chopped of that part and left it as Cho. Now your curiosity has been satisfied. **

**Thanks to everyone that has commented and favorite this story. I love this story so much and I can't help, but write more and more and more. It's seriously addicting. Review More! Koi loves to get reviews.**

* * *

><p>My morning had my emotions on a roller coaster. Bear left. He just left.<p>

How could he simply just leave without any concrete explanation? Sure he had the excuse of me being a weakness, but I didn't see any enemies attacking us in the month that we've spent together. It just didn't make any sense at all to me. Why would he just kiss me and then leave? You don't do that to woman, because then they end up like how I am right now. Confused.

Maybe the hokage thought that I no longer needed someone to guard me. Maybe I wasn't a "danger" to Konoha anymore and there was no need for Bear to watch over me. The least he could have done was tell me his name. The more I thought about what had just taken place, the more angered I became. Quite frankly I couldn't stay in my apartment anymore. It reminded me too much of him and the other ANBU that had stayed with me. I had some place to be anyway, and I couldn't pull a Kakashi.

The walk towards the Academy was slow and torturous. Interacting with people right now was far from what I wanted. Inside my thoughts were boiling and I couldn't concentrate on anything, and on the outside it just showed my frustration. It wasn't like I could tell anyone as well. How would it look if I went up to Raidou or Kurenai and said, "By the way guys, the reason why I'm so depressed right now is the fact that I just kissed an ANBU member who thinks that I'm a weakness to him. So how's the weather?" Housing ANBU was something that I had to keep a secret, and I knew that they would appreciate it if I didn't tell all of Konoha my life story.

My way of coping was eating, and what I needed was some comfort food and I needed it now. Food to me is like a fat kid who loves cake. We don't part. If I had to explain the majority of what my income was spent on…I think you get the picture. I made a quick stop at a Yakitori stand and bought four sticks. Two for me and two for Kakashi. I knew the man enjoyed Yakitori, even though he never really voiced his opinions. It was kind of obvious that he loved Yakitori as each time we passed a stand his eyes would linger more than the average person. Hey, I can be a ninja too, even If I don't have this chakra thing to power me.

Slowly my mood began to shift into a happier one as I nibbled on the grilled chicken pieces. Before I knew it one grilled chicken piece was done and I was already standing in front of the Academy. Kakashi had said he would be inside, but I didn't really feel like walking so far. This man was seriously going to be the death of me. He always showed up late, even if it was an important outing. I remember last week that I made arrangements with Asuma to eat at the new barbecue shop that Choji had been talking nonstop about. Asuma said that he finally agreed to go, but not with Choji because the kid would eat his wallet empty. Of course Asuma didn't know that I would replace said kid. Kurenai had come along for the ride and I almost backed out at the mentioning of Gai's name in the invitees list. By that point I told Kakashi that he had to come with me or Gai's "youthfulness" chatter would drive me to my grave. He had agreed and I specifically remembered lying to him about the time. Asuma had said seven o'clock, but me being the cunning non-ninja that I am told him five o'clock just because I knew he was always at least an hour or two hours late.

Wouldn't hurt the man to wait on others for a change. Asuma and Kurenai sat next to each other as "friends", but obviously they were a couple, while Gai sat next to me as a "couple", but we were obviously just friends. I can't stress the friend's part enough. Gai just wouldn't shut his mouth about his new flower blooming at the full chance of seeing The Green Beast of Konoha at his best. But of course, all plans of mine failed as Kakashi ended up showing his face just as we finished eating our meal. You would think that he would have had the decency to actually arrive for something like this on time.

He knew how much I hated being around Gai. I'm not being a snob and saying I'm too good to hang out with him, but if you're in a room or within three feet of this green spandex wearing man with an awkwardly, shiny bowl haircut, you'd be scared to be left alone with him too. Add to the fact that he screams about being youthful and sending nice "Gai" poses around and you have yourself a full blown scary jounin. Did I mention that he has a portable backdrop of a sunset with him? Hmm…that probably must have slipped my mind.

I remember clearly punching Kakashi in his stomach for making me suffer, and stomping on his foot before marching away to my apartment in a flurry of white and blue. For the following three days I ignored Old Man Scarecrow. Yeah, I demoted him from Kakashi to that, and of course he didn't enjoy the little nickname I granted him. He could go cry me a river and grow some rice in it, but that wouldn't stop me from being angry at him. Oh no. He needed to seriously make up for what he did.

And to this day he never has.

Bastard.

"Yo." A lazy voice greeted me. I didn't need to turn around to figure out who said it. "Old Man Scarecrow."

He sighed loudly. "I said I was sorry."

"Now that I think about it, you still owe me something." I slapped a silly grin on my face and turned towards him. "Really…?"

"Really!" I mimicked earning a raised eyebrow from Old Man Scarecrow.

"You just have to get used to him. I have."

"He claimed that I was his beautiful cherry blossom in a sea of ugly pine trees, and that I stand out the most seeing as I'm as beautiful as he is youthful. Do you know how youthful that man is? Not to sharpen my own kunai but I think that means I'm pretty beautiful. Need I remind you that he wears spandex and sports a bowl hair! His eyebrows are about as thick as the bricks on the Academy building. I can't even leave my apartment without finding leaves from a pine tree to remind me of how "beautiful" I am." I couldn't help but be modest by putting air quotations around beautiful. If he thinks I'm beautiful, then something was seriously wrong with him. Who would think a pale woman with white hair and blind looking eyes would be beautiful?

Maybe that bowl hair cut of his is seeping into his brain.

"Maa…Well I wouldn't disagree."

"…"

"We should probably head inside." He said quickly to which I nodded and walked a little faster so that I was ahead of him. My cheeks were burning and the last thing I needed was for him to jest about me blushing.

Damn me for being so pale.

* * *

><p>The playful banter with Kakashi had lifted up my spirits till I was floating on cloud eighteen. Multiple of nine which means that I was pretty darn chipper. Kakashi and I were waiting for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to arrive in order to take this Written Cunis exams. I couldn't pronounce the word for the life of me, but I was pretty sure it was Cunis….<p>

Maybe not.

I had devoured the rest of my Yakitori and gave one stick to Kakashi as he didn't deserve the second one. He was being too mean, and I wanted to rub the flavor of it in his face. I couldn't help but moan every time I took a nice chomp out of the grilled chicken. Kakashi had already finished his, and I of course being a gentlewoman gave him his privacy by turning around.

"Keep making noises like that and people will think I'm doing more than eating Yakitori, but rather sushi."

"…"

"…"

"YOU PERVERT!"

He laughed and dodged my weak attempt at throttling him. "You better wish you were never born once I'm done with you." After Kakashi's small laugh attack, I grumbled and moved to the other side of the hallway so that I wouldn't have to stand next to such a pervert. Because of him, now I was extremely red and couldn't get rid of the blush that was painting my cheeks.

"Stupid old men, with their stupid perverted jokes. I wish I had a nutcracker big enough to—"

"CHOO!" Turning around I barely had enough time to dodge an orange clad ninja that always insisted on tackling me like I was some enemy. "Naruto! How many times do I have to tell you to not tackle me! If you want a hug just do it the normal way. I'd prefer not to end up with a broken wrist…again." Yes, Naruto had broken my wrist three times from tackling me.

Maybe I just had weak wrists, or maybe Naruto was just strong, but all I knew was that I didn't enjoy having my head pounding after being smashed into the ground by my idiot "brother".

"We missed you at training yesterday! Where were you?"

"You know I work at the Academy Naruto."

He paused before scratching his head sheepishly. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that." He giggled a little at his stupidity. At least he noticed before someone pointed it out for him, but of course Sasuke was always the person that had to comment on something Naruto does or says.

"You're such an idiot."

"WHAT WAS THAT SASUKE-TEME! YOU WANNA SAY THAT A LITTLE LOUDER!"

"Saying it any louder won't make it false loser. Just admit that you're an idiot." Naruto growled loudly and began to lunge for the Uchiha before he was stopped by a punch to the face, by yours truly…Sakura.

What! I wasn't about to get in between those two. I already learned my lesson from the last time. Let's just say that the hospital was sick of seeing my face.

"NARUTOO! DON'T TALK TO SASUKE LIKE THAT." Cue yelling, and it began as Sakura began pounding Naruto on the head and using every degrading word in her vocabulary to describe how cooler Sasuke was than him, and how much of an idiot he truly was. "How do you deal with them?" I whispered to Kakashi.

"Patience. A lot of patience."

"Do I feel bad for you?" I watched Sakura beat on Naruto for a couple more minutes before I decided that enough was enough. I let her have her fun, but it was time for them to get serious about this exam.

"Come on guys stop it." At the sound of my voice Sakura ceased her half flown punch at Naruto's head to turn towards me. "Ahhh…Sorry Cho. I get carried away sometimes." Naruto sent me a thank you grin and began jumping up and done about beating this written exam.

"You guys better do well on the Cunis exams." It was silent for a moment before Sasuke stepped forward with a weird look on his face. Was he trying to hide a smirk? The corners of his mouth were slightly twitching. "You mean Chuunin Exams." He said.

"That's what I just said. Cunis exams."

"No it's chuunin Cho. Not cunis. Chuunin. Let me spell it. C-H-U—"

"I know how to spell it Naruto. I'm not an idiot. Cunis. C-U-N-U-S. Chunis."

"Wait. What!" Everyone stared at me as if I had Maito Gai sticking out of my ass. "What?" I cried while quickly wiping at my face. "Is there something on my face?"

"Cho. You do realize that if it was Cunis exams you said it wrong the first time. Spelt it wrong if that was actually how you pronounce it, and repeated the word again only to say it differently than the first time."

"But it's Cunis right?"

"No Cho. It's Chuunin."

"Chunis."

"Almost, but its chuunin." Kakashi kept stressing Chuunin, but I knew I was saying it correctly. Old Man Scarecrow probably had some corn from his field stuck in his ears.

"Cunnis." An irk mark appeared on Kakashi's face. What I didn't notice was that all three kids had slipped away so that Kakashi could properly teach me the correct way of saying Chunis exams, but what had got my attention was a snickering Gai behind Kakashi.

My eyes widened at the sheer size of Gai's eyebrows.

"HELLOOO! MY DEAR YOUTHFUL CHEERY BLOSSOM!" Of course I ignored him and kept saying Cunis in Kakashi's face.

"Chunis."

"No, Chuunin. C-H-U-U-N-I-N. Chuunin." God I felt like I was at a frickin' spelling bee contest or something. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm saying it correctly."

"My rival Kakashi Hatake. Teaching my beautiful cherry blossom how to spell Chuunin exams won't work. You must let I, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey, teach his beautiful Youthful Flame the ways of pronunciation."

"Chuunin."

"Good."

"Let's go."

Kakashi and I quickly steered away from the exuberant Gai that kept rambling about taking his blossom out to a healthy dinner that would make her nice and plump. "I'm confused as to whether I should be thankful or scared."

"Be both in his prescense."

"So what are we going to do now?" I asked as we walked down the most crowded street in Konoha. I almost lost Kakashi in the bustling crowd, but I grabbed unto his elbow so I didn't lose him. "Well, I do owe you something so let's get something to eat."

"That sounds great, but you better not ditch me to avoid paying the bill." He just looked at me as if he was innocent. I knew he wasn't though. "Why would you say that?"

"I haven't forgotten the last time I was left with Naruto's bill. He ate my entire paycheck. You should know that being a gentleman means you pay the woman's bill."

"I'm a ninja."

"That's no excuse to ignore society's way of functioning."

"So you are telling me that society sees it that the man always pays for the woman's meal?"

"No. Society sees it as having someone else pay for Naruto's hefty bill. Everyone knows that." He chuckle at my joke. "I see. I guess I'll keep that in mind the next time I ditch you."

"You wouldn't." He gave me a look that told me there was no room for argument. "Ugh. Fine," I said throwing my hands into the air in utter defeat. "Ditch a damsel in distress like me."

"Why don't you train to become a ninja?" I tried to contain the laughter that was bubbling up my throat, but of course, typical me burst out laughing. I tried so hard not to fall unto the ground, but instead leaned against a building and guffawed as if my life depended on it. "Me…." I had to stop in between words to try and control my laughing. "….become a ninja."

"That will be the day that Naruto becomes Hokage."

"Ah. I see." He fell silent and watched me as I continued to bend over with laughter. After a minute or two my laughing ceased and I wiped the stray tears that found their way down my face. "Wow…" I giggled a little bit before standing up straight. "You really know how to make a girl laugh."

"What do you have against ninja's?" I sighed and became serious for a moment. Becoming a ninja was something that I would rather avoid. For one it meant a lot of hard work and everyone here that was a ninja trained since they were practically babies. Imagine a full grown woman of seventeen trying to become a ninja. It wasn't logical and certainly wasn't possible unless I spent the next seventeen years training, trying to make up for lost time which I of course wouldn't do. It's not that I have anything against ninja's but I'd rather not put my life on the line and defend a village with people that I barely even knew. Yes I have stayed in the village for more than a month now, but I wouldn't exactly call it home. My family members weren't here and yes I did make friends, but what about my old ones.

Besides, ninja's were always injured on missions. I don't think that I could put enough trust into these "team leaders" to bring me and others home safely from a dangerous mission. Sure the pay is great, but was money everything? And this chakra thing. Did I have it? Would I be able to control it properly? I remembered that the Hokage tried to explain the ninja ways and chakra to me, but it fell on hard ears. I wasn't really willing to sit down and focus on what he was saying. Give me a nice job and a cozy apartment and I will live there until I die. I wouldn't want to die out on a field with people I barely knew, let alone the enemy that "killed" me. Being a ninja scared me. I can say that my two fears was being killed by a ninja and becoming a ninja.

In truth, ninja's scared me. But why wasn't I afraid of the ninja's I made friends with? Watching Naruto and Sasuke spar never scared me. Seeing Kakashi take out his kunai never scared me. So what was it? Did my fear suppress when around ninja friends? What would happen if I was around a stranger?

I unconsciously shivered, not noticing the concerned look that Kakashi was giving me. I felt like my brain was shutting down at the thought of becoming a ninja and just ninja's in general. "Cho..." A hand touched my shoulder which I immediately shied away from. I needed to go home. I couldn't stay out here anymore. "Uh…I have to go." My words were rushed and the wind took them as I turned around and started running for my apartment. I hope that Kakashi wasn't following me.

My apartment was the same way I left it earlier and I slammed the door shut, locking and dead bolting the door. My breaths were coming out quicker than they should and I realized that I was hyperventilating. Quickly rushing to the kitchen I threw the fridge door open and grabbed some water. I drank in huge gulps and then sat down so that my knees were now tucked under my chin. Rocking myself back and forth I kept breathing in and out steadily so that I wouldn't past out.

Calming down took longer than I thought, and by then I was slightly giggling at my reaction. There was no reason for me to freak out over a question, but facing a fear like that scared me. Kakashi probably thought I was a freak now that I reacted like that. "Shoot." I knocked myself over the head for being so stupid. It was just a question. Why couldn't I answer?

No. My answer was no, but I couldn't say it. Maybe I didn't want to hurt his feelings and say what I had been thinking. Surely he already knew the consequences of becoming a ninja, so hearing the cons from my mouth wouldn't help him feel any better.

Suddenly I felt like the biggest idiot Konoha's ever housed. Seriously though, who freaked out about a ninja. Obviously me.

Sitting down there, trying to calm myself down and trying to think rationally took longer than I thought. My belly grumbled and I realized that I skipped out on lunch with Kakashi.

"Great. Now I owe him something." Standing up I had to grab unto the counter to steady myself as my legs felt like they were jello. Shows how smart I am for staying in the same position for an hour. My kitchen was stocked up and I wondered what would be for lunch. Maybe I should have some fried rice with Tonkatsu. I was in the mood for some fried pork cutlets and my stomach couldn't have agreed more as it growled loudly. "Tonkatsu and fried rice it is."

To make the entire meal took about forty-five minutes, but by the time I was finished it felt like only a couple of minutes had passed. Cooking went by smoothly and I had a lot leftover. Without realizing it I unconsciously made food for six people.

My mood then dampened at the thought. No ANBU would be joining me for dinner tonight. I would be all alone in this apartment. I couldn't remember the last time my apartment had been empty. Even when I had first arrived here, Bear had been in this apartment. Then it began to grow as he brought his friends over more often.

Sighing I stuffed some rice into my mouth and chewed. The rice was perfectly cooked, and the scrambled eggs mixed in had such a rich taste I couldn't help but stuff my face even more. By the time I was finished I had eaten two helpings of rice and six pork cutlets. My stomach was heavy, and I felt a little nauseous but I grabbed another piece of cutlet and began nibbling on it. I guess I was eating my problems away. So much for trying to forget about him.

But how could I. The man stole a kiss from me. And his lips were so soft, and his eyes a nice bright blue, but I remembered that there was a flicker in his eye. I wonder what that was about. Maybe it was just the lighting. I didn't dwell on his eyes too long, but my thoughts once again drifted to how soft his lips were. The way his warm hands fit perfectly over my eyes had me shivering as I scooped some more rice into my mouth. They weren't heavily calloused surprisingly. You would think that a ninja would have rough hands, but I guess he was an exception. Maybe he was an adamant user of lotion wherever he went.

I wonder what brand he used?

A knock at the door brought me out of my thoughts. I wonder who would be at the door at this time. It was late afternoon now, and the sun was starting to go down leaving a nice pink and orange hue on the horizon. Taking off the dead bolt and unlocking it, I opened the door to see an ANBU member standing in front of me. "Huh?" I stepped back a little and closed the door behind him. He casually strolled into my living room and elegantly placed himself into my couch before motioning for me to sit across from him.

I was dumfounded and speechless at his presence. I had never seen this ANBU member before. This one seemed to be a Snake, and I shivered at the thought of fangs sinking into my skin.

"Do you know who I am?" Woah. He was more talkative than the other ANBU members I had seen.

"You're from ANBU." I squeaked trying to avoid the emotionless stare that was directed at me. I couldn't really tell what his eyes were saying, but a mask seemed pretty emotionless to me. "Correct."

A silence passed over us. I felt like he was sizing me up. For what reason? I don't know. He was probably trying to assess if I was a threat or not.

"Do you know what position you are in?" My eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

"I wasn't aware I was in any….position."

"Eleven masks. Tiger, Hawk, Eagle, Raccoon, Crow, Rat, Falcon, Deer, Crane, Monkey, and Bear."

I gulped when he said Bear. "All have been absent at certain intervals over the past month. Do you know why?" Lying to him wasn't an option, but I couldn't just outright say "Oh yeah about that. I've been housing your so called fellow comrades and letting them have game night and shogi game night whenever they please, just as long as they don't destroy my apartment."

I guess it was a rhetorical question as he answered it himself. "They seem to have become acquainted with a civilian."

"But the Hokage said—" I started…

"Actually, the Hokage's orders were to guard you for a week. To observe your actions and movements and see if you were a threat to the village. Afterward they were to return to headquarters and leave you alone. I don't think that seemed to work out correctly. Now tell me my dear. What did you do to force him to stay? He doesn't seem to be himself anymore."

I felt like I was swallowing knives and bricks by the time he was done with his sentence. What was he going to do with me? Was Bear going to get in trouble? I began to sweat profusely and shift in my chair under his hardened gaze.

"What. Who are you talking about?" I knew exactly who he was referring to, but I decided that I was going to make his life harder by playing the dumb albino. "Don't play games with me woman. You know exactly who we're discussing." I glared at him.

I couldn't have loved interruptions more than a loud pounding at my door. I jumped up to go open it, by a vice grip on my wrist stopped me. "Don't think this is over." He hissed before disappearing. Great! Now I have an angry ANBU out to kill me.

Just my luck.

Rubbing my wrist didn't ease the pain at all, but I hoped that the bruise that was already starting to form would go unnoticed by the person who was still pounding on my door. "I'm coming!" I yelled, while dodging around furniture to get towards the door. "Didn't know I was that good." I stopped myself from unlocking the door to glare daggers at it. Leave it to Izumo to say something like that.

Ignoring the comment completely I opened the door to be met with a grinning Izumo and smiling Kakashi. "Great. Now I get two perverts in one night. Oh joy."

"Well we were just concerned about you. Kakashi told me what happened."

"Oh." Izumo's face slowly slid from a grin to a frown. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just…the question he asked me kind of threw me off guard."

"But you're okay now right?" I nodded and showed them a smell just to reassure him. "Well good. Wouldn't want my Cho to be sad, now would I."

"So I'm yours now huh."

"From day one." These guys were seriously the best. They knew exactly how to cheer me up, even though most of it ended up with crude sex jokes. "You guys are seriously the best." I hugged Kakashi, which he still wasn't getting used to, and then I went and hugged Izumo. He smelt of pine and peaches which confused me as I wouldn't strike him as someone that enjoyed peaches.

Suddenly a dirty thought popped into my mind. My eyes crossed at the thought and I pulled away, trying to get rid of the dirty joke that was just itching to get out. "Well it's time for me to sleep."

"You do realize that it's not even seven o'clock yet." Kakashi mumbled, without glancing up from his book. "Well. I have work in the morning and would rather be awake than have to pump myself with caffeine. Caffeine and I aren't the best of friends."

"I would hate to see you caffeinated. It's already hard enough dealing with a sober you." Izumo retorted. I stuck my tongue out at him and then pouted. "Yeah well, just wait till we go candy shopping."

"I'd rather not." Both men said simultaneously.

"Losers." They took their leave and I smiled as I did my nightly routine before heading off to bed. I wonder what tomorrow's going to bring.

* * *

><p><strong>EN: A little comic relief, and a little sadness. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm seriously in love with Cho right now. Her characters perfect in the sense that I can make her ditzy or really serious. She's just a laid back kind of girl. Anyone have any questions please comment about it or send me a PM. I'm going to start doing this segment at the end called Wise Words from Itachi just to make you guys giggle.**

_**Wise words from Itachi:**_

_**A wise Itachi once said," My Swag trips harder than LSD." **_

_**Copyright Koiketsudayou 2012**_


	6. Snakes, Assistants and TwoFaced Leaders

**A/N: Bored on a Sunday. Should be working on Chinese project. Is Koiketsudayou doing that. No. Is her project important. Yes. Does she care.**

**No.**

**Fanfiction always comes first. No matter how addicting and detrimental it is to one's academic career. If you end up reading fanfiction while taking AP Tests, and when you're supposed to be paying attention in class and passing with a 3.465 GPA…something is seriously wrong. **

**Question: Why did you decide to give Itachi swag?**

**Answer: Have you seen his hair. I think that says it all.**

**P.S. This chapter is more toned down than the last, and I can say from this chapter on out, the plot line will be moving along quickly. I feel like you guys are going to start hating some of the characters because of what they're doing or what they're about to do. **

* * *

><p>Mornings just weren't my things. Whether it was the sunlight that was streaming through my window, or the birds perched right outside chirping happily, none of that increased my mood. As a matter of fact if made me want to close my blinds and plug my ears so that I wouldn't have to see or hear anything. What I wanted to do was sleep, but like most people once you're up…you're up. No matter how hard you try to force yourself to drift off into slumber, it never works. An alternative to all of this though was lying in my bed and staring up at my drab ceiling. The texture of the ceiling was rough, and you could see tiny little pebbles peeking through little cracks in the paint. That made me wonder what exactly the wall was made of?<p>

The ticking of my bedside clock had my eyebrow twitching in annoyance as each time I breathed out it would tick louder. Louder, and louder, and louder, till the point where I glared at the clock with all my might, just wishing that I had superpowers to destroy the clock with my vision. I didn't want to remove my hands from the warm cocoon that the comforter created around my body just to toss the clock across the room. It would be a waste of energy, and not to mention the fact that the heat would escape the confines of my covers.

I don't know how long I was in bed, but I knew it was late enough as the sun rose higher and the shadows in my room slowly dispersed until there was nothing but bright light shining throughout my bedroom. A quiet moan of displeasure escaped my lips as I slowly unraveled myself and headed into the bathroom. The light in the bathroom blinded me making me quickly shut my eyes to block out the harsh light. Since when were bathroom lights so bright? I couldn't remember them ever being this bright, but I guess I was more sensitive to light when I was half asleep.

"I wonder what time it is?" Great. Now I'm mumbling to myself.

The shower that I took was quite relaxing as warm water traveled down my body making me shiver in pleasure. Warm water never felt so good. I enjoyed being warm so much that I ended up taking a half hour shower. By the end, the water was practically freezing which was perfect as I woke up instantly.

After toweling off I felt refreshed and ready to head to the academy. I had some papers that needed to be graded and getting there early meant that I would be able to leave work early. I decided to be different today and instead of wearing my usual kimono and long pants, I decided on a light blue skirt that reached my thighs, and donned it with a white button down shirt. I left the shirt loose so that it wouldn't be too constricting and added a pink flower behind my ear.

A little girly, but I felt like dressing up a bit today. I slipped on the typical ninja sandals, which I actually have yet to get used to, and brushed my hair to one side exposing the pink flower. After dressing I made some instant ramen and stuffed my face quickly before leaving my apartment in a rush.

The walk towards the Academy was peaceful. Apparently today was a sales day as the marketplace was booming with business, women buying groceries, children running up and down the dirt road yelling, and couples just walking and enjoying the view. It was a sight to see, but I was sad I couldn't partake in it. I had to go grade stupid papers that the sensei's were too lazy to grade. They figured that dropping it off at my desk was more efficient than them grading it themselves.

Before I knew it I was inside of the Academy signing in my name and what time I arrived. No one was there to greet me at the front desk which was very odd. Usually Ishida-sensei would have bombarded me with piles and piles of paper to file away, but it was actually deathly silent. What if everyone had a day off and I was the idiot that actually came into work? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. I do tend to be a bit of an airhead sometimes. Maybe Naruto has been rubbing off on me a little too much. I decided that whether anyone was here or not, I'd get a head start on my grading and take the rest of the papers home to grade.

Thinking about going home by myself had me shivering though. What if that ANBU person visited me again? I couldn't rely on someone pounding on my door to get me out of a situation like that. Avoiding talking to him was out of the question as he could probably find me anywhere in this village, even if I did hide. There was just too much on my mind and I couldn't fully concentrate on Chiyaki-san's answers on how to hold a kunai properly.

I placed the ink pen down and stared outside the window, watching as the sun rose higher into the sky to show that it was a little before lunchtime. I hadn't really been here that long then. Just an hour ago I was inside of my apartment and here I was grading seven year olds papers as if I was an actual teacher.

Funny thing about me being an Academy teacher (more of an assistant) was that I didn't have to really know a lot about the History of Konoha and ninja basics. I was more of an assistant to everyone that needed help. Grading papers was easy because there was an answer key. If there were short answers that needed to be graded I would pass that off to someone else who knew what exactly to look for. It was a fairly easy job and I was glad that it paid well.

But seriously I digress. The matter at hand was me, a mere civilian, trying to find a way to avoid an ANBU member that was most likely out to get my head. That probably wouldn't happen in a million years, but I could at least try. Maybe I could hide out at Iruka's house, or temporarily steal Kakashi's home and make him switch apartments with me.

If I did that though, Kakashi would immediately become suspicious of me and ask why I would want to switch apartments with him. "Arrghhh." I crumpled up Chiyaki's quiz by accident and tossed it across the room. Just thinking about ANBU made my blood boil. This was the sole reason why getting involved with ninja affairs was a bad idea. Just look at the position I put myself in. It's not like I could go around and start telling people to protect me because an ANBU member was out for my blood.

I could probably be overreacting, but it's better to be cautious than to be oblivious to your surroundings. What I needed to do was talk to the Hokage. All I would need to do is request an audience with him and everything would be smooth sailing from there. The only thing I had to worry about was if he would believe me or not.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, but I'd like to see the Hokage if that isn't a problem." The woman at the front desk was being obnoxious by smacking loudly on her gum and ignoring me as if I wasn't even there. "Excuse me." I repeated a little louder. She glanced up at me for a split second before returning back to her magazine that was on her desk. At that rude gesture an irk mark appeared on my face. Who does she think she is? You can't just ignore someone that wants to speak to the Hokage.<p>

"Umm….It's kind of urgent so if you could be so kind as to—"

"Yeah. Well this magazine is kind of…like urgent as well. Latest fashion trends in Konoha. Hellooo." Turning to the left and right I checked to see if she was talking to me or someone else standing behind me. She turned to stare at me as I continued my search for the person she was addressing. "Are you talking to me?"

She blinked stupidly at me and blew a bubble in my face only for it to pop and send little droplets of spit on my nose. "Oh no. I know you're not talking to me."Wiping the saliva off of my face, I turned and stalked off into the lobby area to cool myself off. Blowing up at an assistant wasn't going to get me anywhere. If anything it would just make a scene and embarrass her rather than me. If she wanted to play games then we were seriously going to play games.

Taking a huge breath I returned to where the woman was sitting hoping that she would be in a better mood. From the time it took me to cool off and walk back she now changed positions so that her legs were now propped up on a desk with her face literally buried in the magazine. "Excuse me." I hissed while banging on the table. The sudden noise of my hand making contact with her desk had her jumping ten feet into the air as if she were a kangaroo.

"You either let me see the Hokage now, or I embarrass you in front of your colleagues."

It only took a second for her nose to turn upward and a hateful glare to be sent in my direction. "Listen here you little prick. I work the shift here, not you. So if you want to see the damn Hokage then I'll let you see him when I please. Not on your time missy."

"I don't think you understand what position you just put yourself in honey. I have urgent business with him and standing here talking to you is shortening the time I have left with him. Offices close at three and it's nearly two fifty five. So I suggest you march your little tan ass up into his office and say that there is a Cho Uchida here to see him."

"And if I don't?" She asked while crossing her arms over her flat chest.

"You better wish that you had, because when I'm through with you, you won't be able to tell your left hand from your right."

The both of us glared each other down, none of us wanting to lose the fight. It seemed that she was a little taken back by my forwardness, but when I want something I'm going to get it, especially if it has to do something with my future. I'm not about to let this brunette stop me from talking to the Old Man. Instead of waiting for her to give me a response I turned away from her and started heading in the direction of his office. "You can't go down there!" A hand now gripped my shoulder tightly, stopping me in place.

"Get your hands off of me." I hissed. She instantly recoiled as if touching my skin had burned her hand. I snorted and continued on towards my destination as if nothing that had just taken place happened. Upon arrival I swiftly knocked on the door politely before entering. What surprised me though was the fact that he wasn't in his office. If he wasn't here, then how was I supposed to get a hold of him?

I realized that I just went through all that trouble with his assistant just to get here and see that he wasn't even in. That pissed me off more than I already was. Would he mind if I just sat in his office and waited for him to return. I know that the chunis….chuunin….exams were going on at the moment, but I thought that he wasn't supposed to be a part of it.

I ended up waiting for three hours in his office and he still hadn't showed up. Right now I was thoroughly cranky and pissed. What business did the Old man have that took three hours? Yeah so he runs a village, but doesn't he usually do it from the comforts of his own office. I bet you he was doing this on purpose. He was probably in some secret room next door watching me fume in the chair that I was sitting in. Bastard.

The sound of a door opening had me spinning around in my chair to look at the person that was coming in. There stood the Hokage with his crisp white robes on and an awkward shaped sombrero like hat. He seemed a little shocked at me sitting in his office but as soon as he closed the door his eyes returned back to the indifferent state that it must have been in prior to him seeing me.

"Ah Cho. What a surprise? I would not have expected you to be here."

"I was actually here to ask you a question." I watched as he walked around his office picking up files before slowly lowering himself into the chair behind his desk. He stared at the documents for a moment and scrunching up his nose at something he didn't particularly like that was written on the paper. Instead of jumping right in and asking him about the ANBU member, I patiently waited for him to finish what he was doing. I could see his eyes quickly skimming over some lines and he wrote on the paper occasionally, as if he was dissatisfied with what was there. It wasn't long before he looked up at me urging me to continue on what I was saying.

"Yesterday an ANBU member visited me…" Taking a deep breath I looked into his eyes and continued.

"He told me that Bear was only supposed to guard me for a week to see if I was a threat to the village and then afterwards he was supposed to return to headquarters. Is that true? I don't remember you giving him a specific time limit…" I wanted to hear the truth come out of his mouth rather than some stranger that I didn't particularly like. "Cho..." He sighed as he set his ink brush down next to his files and proceeded to light his pipe. After a minute or two of him tasting the pipe he looked at me with a hard look

"Bear wasn't meant to be by your side every day."

"But he wasn't. Half the time I didn't even see the man."

"That's not the point. The point is, is that Snake is correct. Bear was supposed to return to his duties after making sure you weren't a threat to this village, or its people."

I clenched my fists to keep my anger at bay. How did I not realize that he wouldn't be with me forever? Was I really that oblivious to everything? And how exactly did he know that the ANBU that visited me had a snake mask. I never told him that…at least I don't think I did. I'm pretty sure I left that detail out of my explanation.

It was as if the cliché line of, a ton of bricks, hit me on the forehead. Of course he would know what ANBU visited me. He's the one that issued the order. But why did Snake ask me if I forced him to stay. Did the Hokage think that I did it on purpose? Something wasn't adding up here.

"You were the one that issued the order, didn't you. It makes sense now. You made it seem like it was Snake that visited me of his own will, but now I see that that wasn't the case."

"Listen Cho. I'm not trying to be the bad guy. It's just that, I felt that he was getting attached to you. As a matter of fact I felt like all eleven ANBU that visited you frequently were becoming attached. ANBU aren't meant to be people. They are meant to be tools, used for Konoha, and they know that. The day they entered ANBU and an oath meant that they understood what lifestyle they would be leaving behind. The fact that eleven of them were starting to break that norm had me worried. I can't let eleven of my best shinobi be weakened by a mere civilian as yourself."

"But they weren't even weakened!" My voice was close to breaking as I tried to plead this case. "Bear barely even spoke to me, and the only thing I did was give them food. Otherwise than that they were never there!"

"You do realize that eleven shinobi were missing."

"But that's not my fault. I'm not their keeper. I didn't know that they never returned back to their headquarters. No one ever told me anything."

He stared at me long and hard. The scrutinizing gaze that he gave me had me shifting uncomfortable in my seat. The Hokage was never like this when I had met him the first time. What changed?

"Are you saying that you would rather selfishly keep all eleven ANBU shinobi to yourself. They would be more useful on missions that staying around the likes of you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to fill out."

And with that he dismissed me out of his office. The door closed in my face, but it might as well have just hit me. Those words that he spoke stung my heart so bad that nothing registered properly as I stood staring at the door, just waiting for the tears to start running down my face. I wanted to cry because of the tone he said it in. It was as if he didn't want anything to do with me, and that I was ruining his shinobi purposely. I never meant to change them. They changed on their own. I just added more wood to the already blazing fire.

I think I understand a little bit of where he was coming from though. These ANBU were trained to be hard. They were trained to not show emotion and to be socially unattached compared to other ninjas. And at that point in time, I realized that I didn't really like the Hokage anymore. He was all smiles and kind the first time I met him, but now…he just seemed cold.

If I said I hated the Hokage I would be lying.

If I said I highly disliked him as of now, then I would be telling the truth.

The Hokage was a man that I utterly disliked. He was two-faced, and didn't give a damn about a mere civilian like me.

"I hope you die." I whispered. I know I didn't mean it, but at the moment I let my anger get a hold of me.

* * *

><p><strong>EN: So this chapter is a little shorter than the others, and it was actually really hard to put onto paper. Hopefully it sounded alright. Was a little choppy, but the next chapter will be better. Now here's a little something for all you people that like to giggle.**

_**Wise words from Itachi:**_

_**A wise Itachi once said," My Swag runs faster than diarrhea." **_

_**Copyright Koiketsudayou 2012**_


	7. Flip a coin and pick a date

**A/N: Holy fricking ball sacks. I finally get to post something. I am so sooo sorry guys! I would have had something posted last week, but guess what little old me decided to put off a research paper for three months. And then idiotic me accidentally threw out all her notes on garbage day on Wednesday last week. So of course I pulled crap out my ass to finish my one research paper for History which I legit just finished printing. Then I had another research paper to do in AP English, and you could only imagine the stress that I had trying to finish both research papers. God these past few weeks have been hell for me. But now I get to sit down and finally type up a well needed chapter. Thank you to everyone that has been patiently waiting. I can't help but apologize a gazillion times for my lack of updates.**

**Question: Where is this story going if Cho isn't a ninja?**

**Answer: Well she has a problem to solve which is to return home. Even though I haven't really discussed her past and her wanting to get home it will come up eventually. As for where it's going…well…you'll just have to wait and see :). **

**And I just realized how many mistakes were in the last chapter. *hides head in shame* Seriously embarrassing. I'll fix those when I get the chance.**

* * *

><p>The sun was waving me goodbye as it descended behind the horizon, creating a glow that seemed to stretch for miles. Pink and orange hues seemed to dance circles around the place where the sun once was. I watched as the dark blue colors began to emerge from the hiding spots to invite night upon the village. It was a sight to see as there wasn't any pollution in the air to distort the beautiful picture of the sunset. Watching this dampened my mood as watching the sunset was supposed to be something happy. It was to be a sight that lifted up ones mood, but it only helped to darken mine. My mood hadn't been the greatest after I left the Hokage's office, and I made an effort to avoid everyone that I spotted. Ishida-sensei had been a few ways off in front of me on the walk home, but I turned down an alley way to avoid talking with her. This sudden mood was brought upon by the Hokage. His sudden tone and brushing me off like dirt on his shoulder seemed to open my eyes.<p>

I didn't belong here. I was in a village that was built around ninja's. Wasn't that just crazy? Back home if I had come upon a town like that, I would have called every single resident of that town crazy. But now that I'm living in one, I can only see how much of an outsider I really am. My true home was in Okinawa, a beautiful island south of the rest of Japan. I remembered that before all of this had happened I had been in Kyoto at a job interview for a popular animation company. I didn't really want to go, but my parents had forced me to fly out and at least apply for it. Why? Well my parents were sticklers for animation companies. My mother worked at Studio Ghibli and my father worked for Toei Animation. They both left me in Okinawa with my uncle to finish up schooling before moving to Kyoto to live with them. Now that I think about it I couldn't remember anyone's name. My uncle who I lived with for almost ten years, his name just completely escaped me. As for my father and mother…their names were blank slates.

How could I have forgotten all of this while here? Something must have been chipping away at my memory to make me forget everything. I brought my covers closer to my body as tears traveled down my face to pool at the bottom of my pillow. Realizing that I almost forgot my family had me crying louder. My sobs echoed throughout my empty apartment and I couldn't help but cry harder at the realization that I had no one. Sure I had my friends here, but they weren't really true friends. They didn't know everything about me. They didn't know my favorite colors, or my dreams, likes or dislikes. Conversations were made on a whim about nonsensical stuff. It was either me teasing someone or them teasing me. Our topics were centered around anything that had to do with the village but it was never anything personal.

I couldn't help but feel even more alone. All my friends' students were off to do the Chuunin exams, and everyone was just busy. No one thought of me, little old Cho. Cho wasn't even my real name. I can't even _remember_ my real name. It was there inside of my head, but I couldn't' say it. It was like someone had a hold of my name, but wasn't giving it up. "Dammit." I cursed, wiping roughly at my eyes. I needed to get rid of these tears. There's no point in crying over spilt milk. What's done is done, and there's no way I'd be able to return home. I'm stuck here and I might as well make the most of it. I was no longer going to be shy Cho, but I was going to be determined Cho who lived life like it was her last day.

I threw the covers off of my body and stood up from my bed. Slapping a grin unto my face I smiled and started stretching to get the kinks out of my back. Starting now I was going to live life. And living life meant getting a boyfriend. And getting a boyfriend meant…asking someone out. A light blush covered my cheeks as I thought of Bear and Izumo. Well, I couldn't really ask Bear out to dinner since I have no idea where he was, and I do know where Izumo is. His shift of guard watch at the front gates was going to be over soon so I should head over to his house and ask him if he wanted to head to dinner.

Or maybe I should ask Kakashi. A larger blush covered my cheeks and I slapped both hands unto my cheeks. "Stop it!" _I don't like him. He's just an annoying friend who loves to argue with me all the time. Besides, didn't I say that I had a crush on Izumo. _

_Well that was before….._

"Since I'm having such a hard time, I might as well just flip a coin and see who comes out the winner."

Once that was decided I figured getting ready was the smartest thing to do. For the next half hour I took my time and dressed myself up. My shower didn't last as long as I wanted, but the anxiety of seeing who I would be asking out got the best of me and I couldn't help but move my routine along faster. I chose to wear a fitting dark green kimono with gold dragon designs all over. The kimono was a little on the short end as it stopped just a little before my knees. For something more comfortable, I decided that instead of wearing heels, I would wear black ninja sandals. The sandals gave it a little more of a casual look, which I was happy for because I didn't want my outfit to scream desperate. Once my outfit was on, I didn't really do anything fancy with my hair. I decided to leave it out which was out of the norm for me because it would either be in a high ponytail or a bun. My hair had grown out a lot longer and now it was hanging past my butt. Long hair like that in my opinion wasn't attractive, but it seemed to fit the look nicely. My bangs framed my face and the long hair made me actually look elegant for once. I left my face bare and just added some chap stick as my lips were a little bit dry. Smiling at my reflection I headed over to my wallet and took out a coin.

I stared at the coin longer than need be. I was actually quite nervous. Butterflies were swarming in my stomach and I couldn't help but swallow the lump that was forming in my throat.

"Heads for Kakashi and tails for Izumo..."

I placed the coin on the nail of my thumb and flipped it into the air. As it descended towards me I snatched it out of the air and placed it on the back of my hand.

Lifting my hand off of the coin I slowly looked towards the coin to see what side it landed on.

My eyes widened as I read the coin.

"Holy fudge.."

* * *

><p>"You see….I didn't really expect you to be here since I figured you might have been in the Chuunin exams."<p>

"No. The kids are in the Forest of Death for five days before the Prelims begin. "

"Oh." An awkward silence fell upon us. After a few moments he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Um…What are you doing here dressed like that." I nervously laughed while scratching the back of my head. "Well you see…I decided that I no longer wanted to be shy and that I was going to live life to the fullest."

"Uh-huh." He said while nodding. "And then I figured that I might as well flip a coin and see who I would ask out to dinner."

"Okay…" His voice seemed to hold the tone of 'I don't get where this is going'. "So I flipped the coin after getting ready and it ended up on Tails."

"…"

"Tails was actually Izumo, but he wasn't home at the time, and you were heads...and well…you're a smart man. You know where this is heading." He chuckled at me and switched positions so that he was now leaning up against the door with his arms and legs crossed. "Oh. Do I?" My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. _Exact reason why we're better off being just friends and not trying to go out on a date. He's seriously going to kill me with his stupidity acts. _"Oh don't give me that. You know where this is going."

I'm asking you out to dinner you moronic fool. What! Does he want to me spell it for him?

"Are you asking me out to dinner?"

"No I'm forcing you." He laughed and headed inside his apartment. "Give me fifteen minutes and I'll be out." I followed behind him as he continued to laugh. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment as he just laughed and laughed and laughed. "You know it's not that funny."

"Ah no. It is funny. But make yourself at home while I get ready." I grumbled and threw myself into the couch in the living room. Kakashi left to go do his business while I sat there looking around his apartment. It was actually neater than I expected. His living room was smaller than mine, but the décor had me feeling jealous of his decorating skills. The couches matched perfectly, both were a dark blue, while mine at home were random colors that made my apartment look more hippy than intended. The walls were painted a tan color and had two large pictures of green landscapes hanging on the wall.

Three white pillows were on both couches and a dark brown coffee table was set in the middle. A bookshelf with a dark brown color that matched the coffee table was resting behind the couch I was sitting on. The carpets were a fluffy white and I was surprised to see that he actually could keep the carpet clean.

How did this man do it? He was always on missions and outside of his home. Who took care of his apartment while he was gone? Did he have a housekeeper? Just looking at how beautiful the living room was had my curiosity stirring to see the rest of his apartment. I wonder what color scheme his room was. Was it as neat as the living room or was it messy. Does it smell as lovely as the living room? Kakashi seriously had me looking twice though. I never ever expected this from a man who loved to read porn in public. And the room smelled of such a rich coffee and cinnamon flavor that it had my mouth watering.

I had to see the kitchen. Quickly scanning the hallway to see if he was there I scurried off towards the kitchen. Opening the door, my mouth dropped at how neat and sparkling it was. He kept up with the same dark blue scheme, but inside here everything was neater than the living room. That seemed impossible to me seeing as how the living room was pretty darn neat. I noticed some dog bowls on the floor, and I counted eight bowls. If he had eight bowls, where were the dogs? And if he had dogs, how come inside didn't smell like dogs.

Kakashi was seriously a mystery to me. I sighed and turned around, only to bump into said man. A squeak escaped my throat as I stumbled back a little from the sudden impact. "Heyy…You could've at least warned me that you were there." I mumbled while rubbing my forehead.

"I didn't think I had to." I rolled my eyes and looked up at him only to have my eyes almost pop out of my head. Kakashi was dressed in a nice dark blue button down that showed off his already large muscles. I had the sudden urge to squeeze them to see if they were actually as hard as they looked, but shot that thought down because he would probably look at me weirdly if I did. Of course he kept the dark blue mask and head band on, but he changed his regular ninja pants to a nice pair of black slacks.

"Uh…wow…You look…um….good." I tried to hide the once again annoying blush that seemed to always love to cover my cheeks, but hiding it was practically impossible. When you had sickly white skin like mine, it was practically useless to cover up. "I know."

"You and your damn ego." I pushed past him and headed for the door only to be stopped by a bumping into a hard chest...again. "No."

"No what?" I asked clearly annoyed at the way he got my attention.

"Since you asked me out to dinner…I will pick where we eat."

"What? That doesn't even make any sense. The person that asks the other out obviously gets to choose where to go."

"Well I don't think you should pick somewhere to eat."

"And why not?"

"Ichiraku's ramen stand is not a romantic place to eat."

I blushed as he guessed the exact place where I was going to take us. "Who said anything about romantic? And what's wrong with Ichiraku's. Their ramen is really good."

"Well...a date is supposed to be romantic, and I don't want my first date with you to be at a ramen stand." This was the reason why we were better off not doing this. You see how much trouble it is just to decide on where to eat. Plus we argued more than the average person should. "Then where do you purpose we go."

"A nice restaurant."

"I don't have money to pay for a fancy restaurant."

"Who said you were going to pay?" I growled and crossed my arms while glaring right into his eye. Kakashi was seriously going to give me a stroke. "You do realize that it's going to eat your wallet."

"Well that's what dates like you are supposed to do, right."

"Excuse me. Are you trying to insinuate something?"

"No."

"Can we just go please?" I asked, with anger clearly in my voice. I swear I could practically see the smirk right behind that stupid blue mask of his. For once we agreed on something as the both of us left his apartment. As soon as we exited his apartment and had gotten a few feet away he decided to link arms with me. At this point I was already fed up with our previous argument, and the fact that he did this pissed me off even more. "What are you doing?"

"Walking."

"Of course you're walking. I mean why are our arms linked?"

"Because dates do that..."

"Kakashi, I'm not keeping my arm in yours."

"Why not?" He asked turning to look at me. I brushed my hair out of my face and looked up at him.

"Because if people see us they'll think that we're dating."

"Are we?" A look of horror crossed my face at his question. "Of course we aren't."

"Then what does it matter what they think."

"You mean you wouldn't care if rumors start going around that we're dating."

"Actually no." Wow. I never knew Kakashi to be so…I don't know nonchalant. He just never came off as an 'I don't really care' type of person to me. I figured that he wouldn't want others to see us together like this. Those butterflies came back again and I looked down to avoid his gaze. Just looking at him made my anger dissipate. I was confused as to why it was so easy to not be mad at him. One moment we would be at each other's throats by bickering but then later on we would act like the best of friends.

It made me confused.

It wasn't long before we had arrived at a nice looking restaurant. To be honest I was actually concerned about how much the bill would come up to. This place looked too expensive and I didn't want Kakashi to spend so much on just me. I wasn't anything special, and he certainly didn't have to pamper me in any way.

The man at the front greeted us warmly and led us inside. As the man led us to a table in the back I gasped at how beautiful the inside was. Every table had burgundy table coverings with roses in the middle. The chairs were a shining gold color and green vines hung from the ceiling to give it more of a romantic feel. Soft music was playing in the background and customers chatted with themselves quietly as to not disturb the atmosphere. We arrived at our table and Kakashi, being the nice gentleman that he is, pulled out my chair for me. I thanked him and sat down trying to tuck my kimono in so that it wouldn't get caught on the side of the table. Kakashi pushed my chair in before heading over to his.

The man who introduced himself as Keita handed us our menus, saying that he would be back in a few to check up on us. "This is really nice. How did you find out about this restaurant?"

"Asuma."

Ha. Figures Asuma would come here with Kurenai. "Those two make such a cute couple."

"You think?" I shrugged and looked at the menu. "He treats her right and she seems very happy whenever talking about him. I think they're perfect for each other." Looking at the menu had my stomach grumbling, and the funny thing was that this place wasn't expensive. It may look like it, but it had reasonable prices. I sighed and thanked any god out there that Kakashi wouldn't have to dent his wallet with this meal. "Have you decided what you want?"

"Hmmm…." I looked it over once more before looking up and smiling at him. "I'm going to get the Pork and Kimchi Stir Fry. What about you?"

"Maa….I haven't really decided yet." I looked back down at my menu and skimmed over everything. I knew that he liked eggplant so maybe he would enjoy the Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl with Eggplant. "I know that you like eggplant so why don't you get the Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl with Eggplant."

He nodded a bit before closing the menu. "I guess you know me too well then."

"Ahh…not really. I just figured you might like it." The both of us made small talk as we waited for Keita to return to take our orders. Somehow we were on the topics of dogs and what type of dog I preferred. I told him that I liked cute little dogs that were energetic. Something about watching a tiny dog run around in a circle trying to catch its own tail entertained me. They were just so crazy. They ran around all the time and kept an owner on its toes. "I think I would like a dog, but I don't know where to buy one."

"They have many pet shops in Konoha. You're just not looking in the correct spot." I smiled at the thought of looking for a dog. "Then how about after the Chuunin exams you help me buy a dog."

"As long as I'm not busy."

"You better clear your schedule mister." He chuckled at my failed attempt at intimidation. At that moment Keita appeared to take our orders. He set down some tea in front of us before quickly scribbling down in a pad. "It'll only be twenty minutes, but please enjoy your tea." With that he bowed and left with our menus in his hand.

"Kakashi…tell me. Do you have any siblings?" He shook his head. "What about you?"

"No. I'm an only child."

"Were you born here in Konoha?" He asked while pouring himself some tea. Crap. I forgot that he doesn't know about my situation. The only person who knew was the Hokage, and even then Kotetsu and Izumo knew that I didn't have a real name. I felt horrible that I hadn't really told Kakashi anything. Now that I'm sitting here, I realized that we barely knew anything about each other. This was a perfect opportunity for someone to get to know the real me. "Kakashi…I…haven't really been completely honest with you."

He looked confused for a second, but I couldn't blame him. He seriously was going to be in for a surprise.

"I'm….not from around here."

* * *

><p><strong>EN: BWAHA! I am an evil soulless person who loves to kill people with cliff hangers. I hope this date thing threw you guys off. I figured that since you guys wanted a little romance I would throw in a little right now. Although you guys are seriously going to be thrown off with who Bear is. Like REALLY thrown off. Everything will be explained later…much later. Don't worry everyone. There won't be too much of a wait. I don't really have anything important to do besides taking a three day test next week that will decide if I graduate high school or not. Pshhh nothing important at all. *sarcasm* But seriously I'll probably have something posted either tomorrow or Tuesday.**

_**Wise words from Itachi:**_

_**A wise Itachi once said," My swag kicks harder than Jackie Chan."**_

_**Copyright Koiketsudayou 2012**_


	8. In A New Light

**A/N: Crazy and stressful two weeks….just wow. No wonder I couldn't update. Anyway, I'm sorry it took so long. Would've had this posted….ages….ago….but…stupid….school… *irk mark* Also I feel like Kakashi is the type to mess around with someone just for the fun of it, so if he seems OOC….I'm sorry. I just think that's how he would act.**

**Question: WHO IS BEAR GOD DAMMIT!**

**Answer: a….r**

* * *

><p>"I'm not from around here."<p>

"I'm sorry…I don't follow."He said quietly. I sighed and laid a shaky hand on the table. Why was it that whenever you become uncomfortable you begin to fiddle with something or move unnecessarily? At that moment I couldn't look Kakashi in the eye, for what reason I didn't know, but I kept picking at the napkin hoping that he wouldn't think of me differently. "I…where I come from isn't anything similar to Konoha. For one there are cars that are used to get around and ninja's don't even exist. Well not now at least, but before back when Japan was still a very small nation that wasn't really powerful internationally. As for ninja's they existed around the fifteenth century, but have been extinct for numerous decades." The look on Kakashi's face couldn't have been more than confused. His eyebrows were tightly knitted together as if he was thinking too hard and his eyes were squinting at me with such intensity that I couldn't help but shift my gaze downwards.

"My name isn't Cho Uchida. I'm not from around here. My family is….absent, and my citizenship here isn't even approved yet. I can't for the life of me remember my name, and even if I did it would probably sound too foreign to be used around these parts."

Silence.

It stretched on far too long as I sat there wondering what was going through his head. Would he hate me for withholding information like that from him? Would he no longer speak to me anymore? I couldn't tell. The only way for me to know was if he opened his mouth and spoke to me. People don't seem to realize, but your voice carries a lot more emotion than you think. You may try to hide things from people, but there are certain things that your voice does that just gives you away. I know that I fall victim to that because I am the worst person when it comes to having your emotions shown through your voice.

One sharp intake of breath and the opening of my mouth would give me away completely. I wasn't good at masking my emotions. But without emotions you wouldn't be human.

The waiter, Keita, came back with our order which made me sigh in relief. At least we had something to distract us from this uncomfortable silence. Our food was placed in front of us, and a few seconds later Keita bowed and left us with an "Enjoy your meal."

"Kakashi…"

"Mmm."

Ok. Was it me or was he just ignoring everything that just came out of my mouth. Surely he wasn't just brushing it aside. "Are you going to say something? You know, call me crazy. Leave me here by myself to pay the bill. Tell everyone that I'm a nutcase. Come on, your silence is literally killing me."

"What am I supposed to say to that?" He answered. Darn it. He was right. Well, not really. He could ask me a question about what I said. Nobody is that accepting, no matter how many times they say they are.

"Oh come on. Don't give me that crap. You know for a fact that there are a lot of things you could say.

"True, but what if I don't want to say it right now."

"Then I guess it's my loss. Or rather your loss." He chuckled lightly and sat there staring at his food.

"Was it a bad idea to go out to dinner…seeing as how your uhm…mask is on?"

"No."

"Do you want me to turn around, or look down, cover my eyes?" He shook his head and watched me eat for a few minutes. I felt quite awkward just sitting there eating while he did nothing but stare. Don't you hate it when you're either a, the person done eating first and you have to sit there and wait for the person to finish, or b be that person that finishes last and have everyone around you stare at you be a pigeon and pick at your food awkwardly. I always hated that feeling of eyes on my shoulder and with Kakashi practically eyeing me up and down, it made that feeling ten times worse.

"I don't exactly feel comfortable with you staring at me like that."

"Why…we are on a date aren't we?" I looked at him confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't couples do that? Gaze at each other."

"How am I supposed to know? You're the older one. You should be more experienced."

My question was answered with silence and I laughed as the sudden realization hit me. He's never been on a date before. Neither have I, but he doesn't need to know that. "You've never been on a date before." I said trying to keep my giggles at bay but failing miserably. I would have loved to say that Kakashi blushed horribly, but he did something so out of character that I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Kakashi turned his head to the side and pouted. I know he pouted because the fabric around his mouth crinkled downwards. Okay so maybe he wasn't pouting. Maybe he was frowning, but it sure seemed like he was doing one of the two. "Aww...I'm sorry…" Sarcasm has never felt so good. Saying that to old Man Scarecrow (seriously the man is twenty-six) never felt so good! He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, but didn't say anything about the way I said aww.

Grinning from ear to ear, I continued to eat, forcing myself to not groan at how delicious the food was. It was a shame that Kakashi wasn't eating his food right now, because I guarantee that it would taste delicious. It wasn't long before I was done with my food, completely satisfied with how full I was feeling. To be nice I excused myself from the table to use the bathroom, and left Kakashi to eat by himself. He must be hungry and I would give him five minutes of privacy so that he would be able to eat. Five minutes in the bathroom doing nothing felt like ten minutes, but I used the opportunity to wash out my mouth and apply more chap stick. Who knew that eating dried your lips so quickly? I didn't want to return with cracked lips, and I was sure that cracked lips weren't attractive…

….

….

What was I doing? I tucked the chap stick back in my bra not wanting to hold the cursed thing anymore. Why was I getting so self conscious of my appearance? It was just Kakashi. It wasn't like I liked him. We were just here as friends. Plus I was supposed to be going with Izumo, but he wasn't home at the time. Kakashi was just here as a backup date.

But he did hold my hand. _By force of course._

"Argh." I yanked on my hair, trying to get the thoughts out of my head. I can't be like this. The man was twenty-six, exactly nine years my senior. What was I doing?

But then again, age didn't really matter in Konoha. There were lots of couples that were _clearly _years apart, but no one said anything about it. Then again, I didn't look seventeen. In fact I looked like I was in my mid twenties. What with the looks and attitude, I could pass off as an adult. Sighing to myself I brushed my bangs out of my face and flipped my hair so that it was now cascading down my back. The strands that were too short to fall down my back hung in front like rebels. No matter how many times I shoved the extra strands behind my ears they continued to escape, laughing at my failed attempt at taming them. Why was it that whenever I put my hair in one place, it always had to get messed up and do its own thing. Growling at my reflection I ran my hands through my hair, messing it up even further. Quite frankly, I couldn't give a damn right now. New Cho was not going to care what she looked like.

On the way out of the bathroom I had to quickly sidestep to the left as I almost bumped into a woman who glared at me as if I did something to her.

"Watch where you're going?" She hissed before disappearing behind the door. What crawled up her ass?

Shrugging off that odd encounter I quickly walked towards my table. As I sat down I noticed that both our plates had been removed from the table and a sizeable desert was centered in the middle. "What's this about?" I asked while eyeing the chocolaty goodness.

"I figured you might enjoy some." He dug a spoon into the cake, cutting of a good sized piece before holding it out to me. "You're feeding me…" I trailed off and stared at him as if he grew another head.

"Yes." He said bluntly.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because what. You expecting something out of this." I asked eyeing him suspiciously.

"Maybe."

"…"

"Of course not Cho. You must be hungry though." Actually not really. My Pork and Kimchi Stir Fry was making me feel bloated at the moment, but what girl would say no to chocolate. Chocolate is the only thing that can put god to shame. Sure he sits up there on his throne and rules all of heaven, but if I had to choose between going to hell where there was an afterlife time supply of chocolate versus heaven where there wasn't an afterlife time supply of chocolate…let's just say the devil and I were becoming roommates.

"I'm not hungry, but it's chocolate."

"I'm assuming you like chocolate." I nodded rapidly before closing my lips around the spoon and taking the cake off of it with my tongue. The spoon slipped out of my mouth and I sat back savoring the bursts of sweetness that ran through my mouth. There were strawberries with some sort of cream or icing inside that melted the instant it touched my tongue, making me shudder in pleasure. I chewed for a little bit and slightly moaned at how delicious it was.

That was the best desert I've ever tasted.

"What was that?" I asked, my voice sounding a little lighter than usual. "That was the chef's special Chocolate icing cake."

"That is sooo good." I watched as he cut another piece and held it out to me. I wasn't even going to bother arguing with him anymore because it would be pointless. All I would do is waste my breath if I told him to stop feeding me. Besides, I didn't actually mind being fed. It was kind of sweet that he was doing that. "Only this one time." I said before taking another bite. One full cake later and I felt like my stomach was going to explode. It was to the point where you can feel your belly stretching but can't really do anything about it. Lying down won't help because all the food will settle and then you'll just be left with an uncomfortable pressure in your stomach.

What I needed to do was walk this monstrous dinner off. Another thing that happens when I eat too much is that I get extremely tired. The correct term for that would be the itis, and I was getting a huge case of it too. After paying for our food, and me thanking him numerous times, he led us out of the restaurant and into the night life of Konoha. The part of town that we were currently in was the busiest part of Konoha. You could say that it was the heart of the village, and numerous shops lined the streets, with different vendors outside selling different silks and clothing. The air was wafting with rich smells of food that would have had my mouth watering at any moment, but after eating the amount I did, food didn't sound all too great. As a matter of fact I was feeling quite sick at the moment and had to slow my pace down so that my walking didn't jostle my stomach too much.

"Are you okay?" He asked putting an arm around my waist. I quickly shoved him off of me and ran to the nearest bush that I could find to expel the contents of my stomach. What happened next had even me disgusted as I wiped my mouth to get rid of the extra saliva that was dribbling down my lips. The bush began to reek of the Pork and Kimchi I had, making me step back to avoid the strong smell. Upon me stepping back I bumped into something hard which had me quickly turning on my heel to see what had stopped me. Kakashi stood there with an amused look on his face which did nothing to help my mood. Because I felt extremely bad for him to have paid for a meal for me to just throw it up later I bowed at him and then stood back up, hoping that he wouldn't have a snarky comment to say. "What a waste to a perfectly good meal."

"You shouldn't have ate so much." He said while ruffling the top of my head. I smacked his hand away, not wanting to be treated like a child when I clearly wasn't one.

"You shouldn't've fed me so much." I shot back, not backing down from this pointless argument.

"You could have stopped at any moment."

"Really! You were the one that insisted for me to continue."

"No." I shot him a nasty glare, but had to cut it short as I quickly turned around to retch into the bushes again. _Oh god this is embarrassing. _This was seriously the worse date ever, and it was all my fault. I wasn't going to lie and blame it on Kakashi, no matter how much I wanted to do that. It wasn't his fault…

But then again…

No let's put the blame on the restaurant. They're Kimchi was probably bad, or maybe the pork wasn't cooked correctly or something. Whatever the reason was, I didn't like it all because at the end of the night it was me that had to suffer and puke my guts out in the bush.

After my vomit fest (not really), Kakashi had carried me the rest of the way home, because I wasn't feeling well. When we got to my apartment I was sweating and the air became so chilly that I clung to Kakashi trying to take some of his body heat.

If I was sick I was going to cry myself to sleep. I hadn't been sick once in my entire stay here, and having a stomach bug was not something that I would enjoy. Having a bug is one of the worst things because it forces you to heave, but when there's nothing in your stomach you tend to dry heave and it's more painful that actually having something come up. "Can…you just place me on the couch."

"What about your bed?"

"Too far." I mumbled while leaning my head up against his shoulder. I would have never thought twice about a shoulder being soft. Maybe it was just me thinking funny while being in a delirious state, but at the moment his shoulder was the softest thing I've ever felt. Kakashi gently placed me down on the couch and crouched down in front of me so that he was at eye level. His eyes curved downwards in that odd crescent shaped eye smile he always does and placed a warm hand on my forehead. "Are you going to be okay?" I nodded and gently brushed his hand away from my forehead. "Sorry for ruining our date." I mumbled.

"Just sleep." He whispered. Taking his advice I curled up into a ball and sighed as a blanket was soon draped over me. With a click of the door I knew he left, but I was happy that he cared enough to at least do this much. It wasn't long before I slowly succumbed to the darkness, and fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Waking up the next morning was dare I say a bitch. My head was pounding as if someone was taking a hammer and bashing away at my skull, and the blanket that was slowly falling off of me was covered in sweat. "Eww.." I quickly tossed the blanket off of me, but instantly regretted it as cold air hit me like a slap to the face. I must've forgotten to turn the heat on last night.<p>

Of course I grumbled and moaned as I made my way towards the heating vent before kicking it into motion. A small whirring was heard and like magic, warm air started pooling out of the vent. I stayed in front of the vent for a long time trying to warm myself up before getting ready to go to work. It probably wouldn't have been one of the smartest things I've done, but going to work was seriously going to bite me in the ass later on.

You see, after I had warmed myself up, I set about going through my morning routine of eating breakfast, showering, and getting ready for work. You think that throughout that entire time it would have registered in my brain that screaming kids in an enclosed room, plus migraine from hell wouldn't equal anything pleasant.

I definitely learned that the hard way as I entered the classroom just to be hit with the loud screams of Uchida-sensei. My teeth gritted in annoyance as Ishida's grinning face popped up into my head. Ishida hadn't told me that I would be looking after the younger kids today. No wonder she was so damn jittery. Everyone knows that whoever comes in last always takes care of the more rambunctious younger ones. So the blame could have been put on me for coming in late, but the least she could have done was at least say something me so that I could ask nicely to switch with someone else.

It's not that I hate these kids. Oh no. For me it was an easy job because ninja techniques and the way of a ninja weren't taught to these kids. No, instead they set this classroom up as a daycare for those parents that are busy on missions and have no time to take care of their own. So of course, naturally they would have thrown someone like me inside here to do the job.

"Alright kids! Quite down." Screams were the reply and I rubbed my forehead just wishing for this day to be over already.

"Kaoru, put that paintbrush down now! And Ruki, get off that stool before you hurt yourself." This was not an easy job, and these kids were worse than a rabbit on crack. They were seriously bouncing off the walls! Paintbrushes were being tossed around, stools were being knocked over, Yori, the crybaby, was crying off in a corner being himself, and it was just plain chaos.

The slow pounding in my head began to increase to the point where I had to sit down from the sudden sharp pangs that were stabbing at my head. A small kid with forest green eyes sat in front of me just staring at me with this weird look on his face. His face was slightly chubby, but he was utterly adorable with his brown hair sitting messily on top of his head. "Ubiba-sensei." Yup, leave it to the four year olds to get my name wrong. "Yes honey." I smiled and picked him up so that he was now resting in my lap.

He tugged on my hair and began to giggle as the strays tickled his face lightly. "I'm hungry…"

"I'm sorry honey, but I don't have anything right now. Can you just give me a minute?" He nodded and scrambled off of my lap to join the quite kids in the corner who were too scared to do anything about the mess that was being made.

"Everyone sit down before I get mad!" Instantly the room went quiet and I mentally sighed at the lowered noise. "Can everyone just do me a favor and find a seat to sit in. I need to clean this room up before taking attendance, okay!" All at once, everyone started tumbling over each other to find a small stool to sit on, while some who weren't so lucky ended up seating themselves on the floor. It wasn't surprising to see kids fighting each other just to sit on a chair. They were four year olds after all.

"Okay. Now that everyone is settled. Give Uchida-sensei ten minutes to clean up." While the kids sat and talked amongst themselves, I quickly picked up the items off of the floor and put them in their rightful place. How these kids managed to knock over a small wardrobe in the back, that held the art materials, was beyond my recognition. What give me a shock was a couple of strange looks sharp objects were tucked underneath the carpet. If the kids had found this, they would have instantly hurt themselves, and caused me more work. Arranging everything back in its place didn't take as long as I thought it would. From the front of the classroom the mess looked bigger, but I figured that because the kids were running around screaming like banshees it made the room seem messier than it actually was.

Now cleaning the paint was a little bit harder as there weren't a lot of paper towels, but I managed and in those ten minutes, I made the room seem at least somewhat presentable.

_It probably wouldn't even last five minutes anyway. What a waste of time._

Attendance went without a hitch, and I eventually found that adorable kid some food. It was still early in the morning, but it felt like I had been at the academy all day. My legs were aching from standing up for too long, and my head wasn't getting any better. The queasy feeling in my stomach did eventually leave, but it might as well have stayed to dampen my mood further. The kids were quietly drawing right now, but every time I wanted to sit down to take a breather, one problem after another would arise.

First it was the kid with the forest green eyes (he eventually told me his name was Hikari) as he injured himself with a kunai that happened to be laying around (I had honestly thought I picked up all the weapons). Why a sharp object was in a room filled with adolescents like these went beyond my recognition, but the teachers were sure going to hear an earful today at lunch. Next came two girls fighting over a pink crayon, followed by a boy who wouldn't stop picking on Riku for wearing glasses.

All in all it was extremely stressful and there wasn't anything that I could do to get rid of the headache. Leaving the classroom to ask for medicine to dull my migraine was out of the question as most of the teachers had their schedules filled already. I would have asked Iruka if he could just sub for five minutes, which would be just enough time for me to grab some medicine from the medical room, but I hadn't even gotten both feet at the door before the kids exploded in screams of "Where are you going Uchida-sensei", and "Don't leave us Uchida-sensei." To be honest I was at my wits end and the rope that I was hanging onto was slowly being cut off by a knife which happened to be held by those kids.

Lunch couldn't have come any quicker, and as I dismissed the kids for their lunch period, I was one of the people in the crowd of numerous kids pushing each other to get out the door all at once. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say that I almost trampled a poor girl, but when it comes to my headache's I don't mess with that.

Being the smart person that I am, I had completely forgotten to bring a bento. Typical me forget something so important. Food was like air to me. If there isn't any food for me to nibble on, or any candy to suck on, I get extremely agitated, and will most likely go crazy from not having anything.

With my stomach naturally getting louder than my headache, the teacher's lounge couldn't have came any faster. The minute I swung the door open and spotted Iruka, I made a beeline for the man.

"Iruka!" I cried, while grabbing unto his shoulder. The scarred chuunin turned around to face me, but at the look on my face his face turned to that of concern. "Cho…are you okay? You don't seem to look to well."

"Listen. I'm not really feeling the greatest, but I need you to do me a favor. I need you to run down to the closest shop and buy me the biggest lunch that you can find." He looked at me as if I had dipped my head under water and completely forgot that, no, you can't breathe under water. Basically, he looked at me like I was crazy. "Um..." Saying that he was speechless would have been the understatement of the year, but I was making sense in my head. Cho needed food no matter if she had a stomach bug or not. She was going to eat, and she was going to do it now. "And is it possible that you can give me some medicine for my head. I feel as if Guy ran laps around my head with knives for shoes."

Iruka chuckled and shook his head at my little joke. It wasn't really meant as a joke, but it kind of got my point across at how much my head was hurting. "Come." He smiled and grabbed my wrist gently before leading me out of the room, and away from the teachers that were staring at us oddly.

I'm thankful that Iruka was a very close friend. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been able to direct myself through Konoha perfectly as if I had been living here my entire life. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have a social life. There were a lot of things were if it wasn't for him so and so wouldn't have happened. I really appreciate everything that Iruka's ever done for me, and walking behind him with my wrist gently gripped in his hand, I saw him in a new light.

Iruka needed someone to care for him, instead of him caring for others. He was very sweet, and was selfless as he always put someone else first. That was a good quality to have and I know that someone would appreciate to have a person like Iruka as a husband.

Walking through that hallway and staring at Iruka had me thinking that there was one new goal that I would need to get to.

Find Iruka a nice girlfriend and let him live his happily ever after.

And then once his happily ever after is complete, mine would follow.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffyyy!<strong>

**E/N: Took forever to post because I didn't like this chapter….*sigh*, but for the sake of the readers I managed to put something together that I thought was decent. I've been also typing up a whole lot of other stories as well, hence the extremely long update. Now I know everyone's set on figuring out who Bear is…but I must say that it's going to be a good while before you get to see who he is. I'm so mean.**

**Also…um….I don't remember if I said this, but there's a certain part of this story that will be completely different from the Naruto storyline. It will include the characters, but you guys might not like what I have in store for some of these characters. Sawy.**

_**Today there are no wise words from Itachi, because Itachi is on vacation with Kisame.**_


	9. I'm Truly Sorry Author Information

Because I know people probably don't look on profile pages anymore to actually read what's there, I decided to put this in all my stories to inform people that are story alerted to these stories, what is going to happen over this next year.

Due to my focus on writing my novel, that should be published by the end of this year *crosses fingers*

I will no longer be continuing writing any of the fanfictions posted here. That's not to say that I'll completely forget about them.

It just means that all activity on this page will cease to exist until the end of this year.

I'm truly sorry to all my fans and those that were looking forward to reading my stories.

I feel that the writing on here that I have now is childish, and could improve a whole lot better.

When I do come back, everything will be rewritten, and updated, but as for now I must say goodbye.

Once again I'm truly sorry.

-Leah


End file.
